How Should Reading Disabilities Be Operationalized? A Survey of Practicing School Psychologists

Abstract

School psychologists' perceptions of how reading disabilities (RD) should be operationalized were examined and compared to those of journal editorial board members in the learning disabilities field (Speece & Shekitka, 2002). Participants were practicing school psychologists drawn from the membership directory of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). The sample consisted of 549 participants and was generally representative of the demographic characteristics of NASP membership at large. Results indicated that over 75% of participants endorsed using treatment validity/response to intervention (RTI), cognitive processing, and phonemic awareness as components of RD operationalization. A large percentage (61.9%) also endorsed use of an IQ-achievement discrepancy criterion. Statistically significant differences were found between the endorsements of this study's participants and those in the Speece and Shekitka (2002) study, with our participants reporting higher endorsement of RTI, cognitive processing, and IQachievement discrepancy criteria.

How are Reading Disabilities Operationalized in Spain? A Study of Practicing School Psychologists

“…In other words, the emphasis has been on establishing a set of exclusion criteria that could be applied when seeking to identify LD [1,2]. This is reflected in the internationally recognized definition proposed by the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities [3] and backed by the ICD-10 [4] and the DSM-5 [5], a definition that is based predominantly on exclusion and discrepancy based criteria, without specifying how these should be quantified.…”

“…In this way we hope to shed light on the effect of changes in the conceptual definition of RD on educational practice in Spain, and to examine the extent to which the effects observed are similar to those reported in the USA [1].…”

“…Machek and Nelson [1] concluded that despite attempts for the better part of three decades, there has been little progress in narrowing the gap between the conceptual and operational definitions of RD. Thus, although there is some consensus among professionals over the need to align definitions, heated debate continues on the question of how reading disabilities should be measured in practice.…”

“…In light of the above, the present study had two objectives: First, to examine the importance ascribed by Spanish school psychologists to different criteria for identifying RD, and second, to compare their views with those of the school psychologists surveyed by Machek and Nelson [1]. In this way we hope to shed light on the effect of changes in the conceptual definition of RD on educational practice in Spain, and to examine the extent to which the effects observed are similar to those reported in the USA [1].…”

“…The criteria for selecting participants are described in the procedure. Information on certain sample characteristics (e.g., age, level of education) was collected under categories, as in the study [1], in order to establish meaningful comparisons.…”