Preface

The Connecticut Assessment Resource Guide for Specific Learning Disabilities in Reading and Written Expression (Resource Guide), previously known as the Specific Learning Disability (SLD)/Dyslexia Assessment Resource Guide, was created in response to requests from educators and administrators from local education agencies (LEAs) and families seeking information about appropriate assessment options for the identification of SLD/Dyslexia and other reading-related learning disabilities. It was prepared by the State Education Resource Center (SERC) in 2016 in collaboration with the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) and Connecticut experts in reading disabilities. The guide evolved from Dr. Louise Spear-Swerling’s publication, The Power of RTI and Reading Profiles: A Blueprint for Solving Reading Problems (2015), which identifies research-based reading-related abilities and assessments appropriate for evaluating reading component skills. Analysis of reading component skills is critical when a student is struggling to learn to read and/or when SLD or SLD/Dyslexia is suspected.

The Resource Guide enhances Dr. Spear-Swerling’s work in several ways. It includes assessment options for written expression, an integral component of literacy; updates tests and subtests to reflect the most recently revised versions; and expands the assessment options for each reading-related component skill. Revisions made in 2017 included additional assessment options. Revisions made in 2023 included a new title for the assessment resource guide, updated assessments, as well as updated definitions of components skills, based on a review of applicable literature and current research. Although every effort was made to ensure that the current guide is as up to date as possible, published tests are revised on a regular basis. Therefore, readers of this resource should be mindful of possible new editions of tests.