Balanced reading tests for primary year 1
Marina Zoppello Camilla Latronico Mirta Vernice e Umberto Balottin
Experimental reading tasks have been developed to evaluate the accuracy and speed of reading in pre and post-training phases and to verify the effects of different reading environments on decoding. The use of balanced tests in the evaluation of the effectiveness of rehabilitation responds to recommendations on good practice for the treatment of dyslexia. The tests consists of two lists of words (30 words per list) balanced in length, initial letter, structure complexity, grammatical category and frequency of use, and two lists of non-words (30 per list) balanced in length, initial letter and complexity of structure. The lists were administered to 41 children with typical development attending their first year of primary school in a city in northern Italy. Reading time and number of errors were recorded and statistical analyses were performed to verify their comparability. Preliminary data are indicative of good test balancing and the tests can be used to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of rehabilitative training and to examine the benefits resulting from the manipulation of the reading environment.
Keywords
Effectiveness of rehabilitation, reading test, dyslexia, primary school, reading font, balanced tests.