Early Language and Literacy Evaluation

Early Language and Literacy Evaluation (ELLE)

An Early Language and Literacy Evaluation (ELLE) is designed to identify children 5-7 years of age who are at risk for dyslexia and would benefit from early identification and treatment. The testing includes measures of speech sound skills, receptive and expressive language skills, and pre-reading skills. Particular attention is given to examining phonological processing skills such as phonological awareness, phonological memory and rapid naming, which are the primary underlying skills necessary for reading success. By providing early, evidence-based intervention at the pre-K, Kindergarten, and 1st grade level, we can prevent or reduce reading struggles in later grades.

How do I know if my child will benefit from an ELLE?

Parents are active in the identification process! We consider red flags such as:

• family history of reading and learning problems
• delayed speech and language
• difficulty learning names and sounds of letters
• difficulty pronouncing words correctly
• difficulty rhyming or learning nursery rhymes
• limited vocabulary and grammar

What are the next steps?

Step 1: Comprehensive Evaluation — Schedule an ELLE with the Laughlin Children’s Center’s Speech Department. Test results will determine if a child is at-risk for dyslexia. To schedule your ELLE evaluation, call 412-741-4087 or fill out the contact form here

Step 2: Parent Conference —The speech-language pathologist shares the results of the evaluation with the parent. If testing indicates that the child may be at-risk for learning to read, we recommend evidence-based treatment that is tailored to the specific needs of the student.

Step 3: Treatment — Individualized recommendations are made and a referral to the most appropriate therapy program is suggested. Laughlin Children’s Center offers the following treatment options:

• PALS (Phonological Awareness and Literacy Skills) group
• Lindamood-Bell Lips Phoneme Sequencing Program
• Reading Detectives
• Orton Gillingham

PALS (Phonological Awareness and Literacy Skills)

PALS is a small group intervention that parallels our individualized Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program (LIPS). Your child will work on phonological and phonemic awareness skills by learning about rhyming, identifying syllables, segmenting words into their individual sounds, blending sounds together to form words, and substituting one sound for another to create a new word. Your child will discover and identify the oral motor movements associated with each sound and then manipulate and sequence sounds in words, a skill that promotes the development of reading and spelling. Home practice suggestions will follow each lesson. The goal of the PALS group is to support your child by offering fun ‘sound’ activities that will strengthen phonological and phonemic awareness skills for early reading success. This small group will meet once a week for one hour. The instruction is planned and delivered by a speech-language pathologist certified in the Lindamood-Bell Lips approach.

Lindamood Bell LiPs Program

An evidenced-based program that teaches the child to discover and identify the oral motor movements of phonemes, as well as teaches phonemic awareness, a foundational literacy skill. The child learns to recognize, manipulate, and sequence the smallest units of sounds (phonemes) in words for reading, spelling, and speech. This therapy method is conducted by a speech-language pathologist certified in the Lindamood-Bell Lips approach. Sessions are 30 minutes in duration.

Reading Detectives

Reading Detectives is a small group intervention that focuses on early reading skills such as letter sound relationships, decoding, fluency, and spelling. Your child will learn these skills through explicit, systematic, and cumulative instruction that is based on the Orton Gillingham method. Multisensory activities are incorporated in order to help learners retain more knowledge and engage in the learning process. The small group will meet once a week for one hour. The instruction is planned and delivered by a certified teacher who is a certified dyslexia practitioner.  

Orton Gillingham Tutoring

Orton Gillingham (OG) instruction is a systematic, cumulative, and multisensory approach to learning to read. OG instruction emphasizes structure of language, multisensory learning strategies, practice of reading and fluency, application of language structure to spelling, and development of vocabulary. OG tutoring sessions are scheduled for one hour twice a week. The instruction is delivered by a certified teacher who is also a certified dyslexia interventionist/practitioner.