Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 14, 2025

Assessing Dyslexia at Six Year of Age
Published on: May 1, 2020
Language used in school psychological evaluation reports as predictors of SLD identification within a response to
Courtenay A Barrett1, Matthew K Burns2, Kathrin E Maki3
1Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education.
Abstract:
Despite decades of research, much is still unknown regarding how specific learning disability (SLD) identification decisions are made, particularly how language related to sociodemographic and psychosocial factors may impact decision-making. This study employed the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) method to examine the language used in school psychological reports to better understand how sociodemographic (i.e., race, socioeconomic background, and gender) and psychosocial factors (e.g., positive and negative emotion, student effort, and student social processes) related to SLD identification within a Response to Intervention (RtI) identification method. The reports of students identified as SLD contained significantly more achievement-related language (e.g., hardworking, motivated, exerting effort) compared to students who were not identified as SLD, and achievement-related language was associated with SLD identification above and beyond RtI evaluation data (i.e., academic achievement and slope). Implications for research and practice are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
More Related Videos
09:00Author Spotlight: Validation of SICOLE-R for Assessing Cognitive and Reading Skills in Spanish-Speaking Children and Its Role in Personalized Education
Published on: August 16, 2024
14:43Universal Screening for Prevention of Reading, Writing, and Math Disabilities in Spanish
Published on: July 18, 2020
Related Concept Videos
Learning Disabilities
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a...
Language and Cognition
Intellectual Disability
Information Processing Approach