An audit of the processes involved in identifying and assessing bilingual learners suspected of being dyslexic: a...

The Commission for Racial Equality (Special Educational Needs Assessment in Strathclyde: Report of a Formal Investigation, CRE, London, 1996) highlighted the significant under-representation of bilingual children among pupils assessed as having specific learning difficulties/dyslexia. In this present study an audit was undertaken in order to explore issues arising from the Commission's report, initially using 53 schools from one education authority. This revealed an extremely low incidence of suspected dyslexia among bilingual pupils. A second study was carried out in a further nine education authorities, surveying 91 schools with bilingual pupils. The incidence of suspected dyslexia in bilingual pupils was found to be extremely low. Twenty-seven cases were examined. Most cases concerned pupils aged 7:0-9:0. Difficulties associated with conventional indicators of dyslexia are discussed. A wide variety of assessment approaches were reported and the use of first language (L1) assessment varied. The process of assessment tended to be lengthy and inconclusive. However, this report suggests that caution is necessary when considering dyslexia in the early stages of second language (L2) development.