Comprehensive Literacy Checklist For School-Aged Children

This literacy checklist was created to assist Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) in the decision-making process of how to identify deficit areas and select assessment instruments to prioritize a literacy assessment for school aged children. The goal is to eliminate administration of unnecessary or irrelevant tests and focus on the administration of instruments directly targeting the specific areas of difficulty that the student presents with.  *The term “literacy checklist” rather than “dyslexia checklist” is used throughout this document to refer to any deficits in the areas of reading, writing, and spelling that the child may present with in order to identify any possible difficulties the child may present with, in the areas of literacy as well as language.

This checklist can be used for multiple purposes.

1. To identify areas of deficits the child presents with for targeted assessment purposes

2. To highlight areas of strengths (rather than deficits only) the child presents with pre or post intervention

3. To highlight residual deficits for intervention purpose in children already receiving therapy services without further reassessment

Checklist Content:

• Page 1 Title
• Page 2 Directions
• Pages 3-9 Checklist
• Page 10 Select Tests of Reading, Spelling, and Writing for School-Aged Children
• Pages 11-12 Helpful Smart Speech Therapy Materials

Checklist Areas

1. AT RISK FAMILY HISTORY
2. AT RISK DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY
3. BEHAVIORAL MANIFESTATIONS 
4. LEARNING DEFICITS   
   1. Memory for Sequences
   2. Vocabulary Knowledge
   3. Narrative Production
   4. Phonological Awareness
   5. Phonics
   6. Morphological Awareness
   7. Reading Fluency
   8. Reading Comprehension
   9. Spelling
   10. Writing Conventions
   11. Writing Composition 
   12. Handwriting