De.Co.Ne. battery for reading. Tools for evaluating reading abilities in primary schools
Sandro Franceschini, Sara Bertoni, Luca Ronconi, Massimo Molteni, Simone Gori, Andrea Facoetti
In order to correctly assess reading skills, for both diagnosis or rehabilitation treatment efficacy evaluation, standardised tests are necessary. To date, few tests are available for the assessment of reading abilities in the Italian language. Furthermore, these tests measure lexical recognition skills and these are strongly influenced by reading experience, which by definition are low in children with dyslexia. However, the sub-lexical procedure, less influenced by reading exposure, plays an important role in the acquisition of reading in the Italian language. Here, we present the results obtained from four reading tests (one word test and three pseudo-word tests) administered to a large group of primary school children. The tests, which will also be available on our website (http://dpg.unipd.it/en/deconelab), are offered as a useful alternative for the assessment of reading skills, before and after rehabilitation training, and reading screenings.
Keywords
Reading skills, reading assessment, reading screening, phonological decoding, developmental dyslexia, primary school.