STR Structured Literacy and Dyslexia 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The multisensory approach used in Structured Literacy instruction simultaneously engages which pathways?
- Cognitive, emotional, and social pathways
- Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways (Correct answer)
- Phonological, syntactic, and pragmatic language pathways
- Semantic, morphological, and orthographic pathways
Correct answer: Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways
Multisensory instruction engages visual (seeing letters), auditory (hearing and saying sounds), and kinesthetic-tactile (tracing, tapping, writing) pathways simultaneously to build stronger neural connections.
Orton-Gillingham's multisensory principle is based on the idea that engaging multiple sensory pathways simultaneously creates stronger, more redundant neural connections for reading and spelling. A typical multisensory activity might have the student see a letter (visual), say its name and sound (auditory), and trace it in sand or write it (kinesthetic-tactile) at the same time. Research on multisensory instruction for dyslexia supports its effectiveness. The other answer choices describe linguistic components or cognitive constructs but are not the sensory pathways the term 'multisensory' refers to.
Question 2: Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) tasks measure:
- How quickly a student can decode an unfamiliar CVC word
- The speed at which a student can name sequences of familiar visual symbols such as letters, numbers, colors, and objects (Correct answer)
- How accurately a student can blend phonemes into words
- The number of sight words a student can read per minute
Correct answer: The speed at which a student can name sequences of familiar visual symbols such as letters, numbers, colors, and objects
RAN tasks require students to name familiar symbols in sequence as quickly as possible and measure retrieval speed from long-term memory, which is a separate but related predictor of reading fluency.
Rapid Automatized Naming measures the speed with which an individual can retrieve phonological labels for visual symbols from long-term memory. RAN tasks present arrays of letters, digits, colors, or pictures, and the student names them as quickly as possible. RAN is a strong predictor of reading fluency independent of phonological awareness; together, poor phonological awareness and poor RAN define a double deficit profile associated with the most severe reading difficulties. RAN is included in major dyslexia screeners such as the CTOPP-2 and DIBELS.
Question 3: Which of the following describes the orthographic mapping process in skilled reading?
- Decoding an unfamiliar word by applying phonics rules each time it is encountered
- The process by which words are stored as instant sight vocabulary through connections between phonemes, graphemes, and meaning (Correct answer)
- Mapping new vocabulary words onto a graphic organizer
- Using visual memory to remember the overall shape of a word
Correct answer: The process by which words are stored as instant sight vocabulary through connections between phonemes, graphemes, and meaning
Orthographic mapping is the process by which readers permanently bond a word's pronunciation, spelling, and meaning, allowing immediate sight word recognition after only a few exposures.
Linnea Ehri's orthographic mapping theory explains how skilled readers develop an enormous sight vocabulary. When a reader fully analyzes the phoneme-grapheme connections of a word while simultaneously attending to its meaning, the word's spelling is bonded in long-term memory, enabling instant recognition in future encounters. This is distinct from rote visual memorization of word shapes, which is ineffective and not how skilled readers actually store words. Orthographic mapping requires phonemic awareness and phonics knowledge as prerequisites. Students with dyslexia have difficulty with orthographic mapping due to their phonological processing deficit.
Question 4: Which statement about the Simple View of Reading is TRUE as it relates to dyslexia intervention?
- Students with dyslexia should focus only on language comprehension strategies
- Students with dyslexia typically have a decoding deficit; intervention must target word recognition directly (Correct answer)
- The Simple View is not relevant to dyslexia because dyslexia affects overall comprehension
- Comprehension-first strategies are the most effective intervention for dyslexia
Correct answer: Students with dyslexia typically have a decoding deficit; intervention must target word recognition directly
Dyslexia is characterized by a word recognition and decoding deficit; the Simple View shows that strengthening decoding directly improves the reading comprehension product.
The Simple View of Reading shows that both decoding and language comprehension must be adequate for reading comprehension to be strong. Students with dyslexia typically have strong language comprehension but weak decoding. Intervention must therefore directly target decoding through Structured Literacy approaches. Comprehension-focused strategies do not bypass the decoding deficit; if a student cannot decode the words, comprehension strategies are inaccessible. The STR TExES 293 expects teachers to use the Simple View to explain why decoding-focused intervention is the correct approach for dyslexia.
Question 5: A teacher provides a student with extended time on tests, audiobooks for assignments, and a reader for state assessments. These accommodations are appropriate for a student with dyslexia because:
- They eliminate the need for direct reading intervention
- They provide access to grade-level content while the student continues to develop decoding skills (Correct answer)
- They fulfill all legal obligations and no reading instruction is needed
- They serve as substitutes for teaching phonics
Correct answer: They provide access to grade-level content while the student continues to develop decoding skills
Accommodations allow the student with dyslexia to access content using their strong language comprehension while reading intervention continues to develop their decoding skills.
Under IDEA and Section 504, students with dyslexia are entitled to accommodations that remove barriers to demonstrating their knowledge without modifying the learning standard. Accommodations such as extended time, audiobooks, and text-to-speech honor the student's strong language comprehension by bypassing the decoding barrier. Critically, accommodations do not replace intervention: the student still needs evidence-based Structured Literacy instruction to develop decoding and word recognition skills. Treating accommodations as the sole response leaves the underlying deficit unaddressed.
Question 6: Which characteristic differentiates dyslexia from a general reading difficulty caused by inadequate instruction?
- Dyslexia students refuse to read; instructionally caused difficulties involve effort
- Dyslexia persists with appropriate instruction; instructionally caused difficulty resolves with quality teaching (Correct answer)
- Dyslexia only affects males; instructional gaps affect students of all genders
- Dyslexia is always identified before kindergarten; instructional gaps appear later
Correct answer: Dyslexia persists with appropriate instruction; instructionally caused difficulty resolves with quality teaching
A key diagnostic feature of dyslexia is that it persists despite adequate, high-quality instruction, whereas a student whose reading difficulty stemmed from poor instruction typically responds to quality teaching.
The IDA's definition specifies that dyslexia's reading difficulties are unexpected, not explained by inadequate instruction, socioeconomic disadvantage, or intellectual disability. A student whose difficulty resolves when they receive high-quality, systematic phonics instruction likely had an instructional deprivation issue, not dyslexia. In contrast, a student with dyslexia continues to struggle with word recognition even after receiving appropriate, evidence-based instruction. Dyslexia affects males and females at roughly equal rates. The STR framework addresses this distinction to prevent misidentification.
STR Structured Literacy and Dyslexia 2
The multisensory approach used in Structured Literacy instruction simultaneously engages which pathways?