Dyslexia Referral Checklists

CLI Engage offers dyslexia referral checklists for kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade in English and Spanish.

The Dyslexia Referral Checklist (DRC) is a questionnaire that builds a link between direct assessment of early reading skills (e.g., universal screening and progress monitoring measures) and classroom observations. The DRC has versions designed for use in Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade. The DRC was designed following an evaluation of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) domains and the Texas Education Agency’s Dyslexia Handbook (2018).

Item content within the DRC evaluates areas considered to be important for early reading (e.g., language-based skills, letter and letter-sound knowledge, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, decoding, and spelling). In addition, one multi-part item asks teachers to document whether or not universal screening/progress monitoring assessment data has indicated that a child might be at risk.

Below you can access the DRC Manuals and a webinar for Dyslexia. Each document contains a section on how the checklist was built and three appendices. The first appendix is the screening tree for dyslexia (A), followed by the checklist (B), and finally the anchor explanations (C) for each measure. Download the DRC Manual to use with any progress monitoring tool, or log in to CLI Engage in November 2020 to complete the Dyslexia screener and the checklist and track student data online.

• Kindergarten (English and Spanish) 
• 1st grade (English and Spanish) 
• 2nd grade (English and Spanish) 

Sources of Information to Consider

As is suggested in the Dyslexia Handbook, teachers are advised to utilize both quantitative and qualitative information when attempting to determine if a child would benefit from a more comprehensive assessment of reading skills. In fact, the Dyslexia Handbook (2018) suggests teachers utilize multiple sources of data to evaluate reading skills (see below).

While teachers are encouraged to consider multiple sources of data prior to rating individual students using the DRC, the measure was not designed to be tied to a specific universal screening/progress monitoring measure. That is, districts could use alternative screeners already in adopted use. In short, the DRC items have been constructed to cut across measures and look at component skills necessary for students to make adequate reading progress.