A Strength-Based Approach to Dyslexia Assessment

When literacy difficulties such as dyslexia are assessed well, it is not simply identified — how that person best interacts with learning is understood. A high-quality dyslexia assessment explores an individual’s developmental, educational, and family history alongside a careful examination of literacy skills. It also identifies where they thrive and how they best learn so that these strengths, going forward, can take a central role in their learning and be directly applied to supporting and building lagging skills.

Within the process of assessing for dyslexia, the role of cognitive assessment often raises questions — particularly given that the DSM-5 does not require cognitive assessment for the diagnosis of dyslexia (classified as a Specific Learning Disorder), unless there is concern about Intellectual Disability. As a result, the inclusion of cognitive assessment is a matter of professional judgement and ethics, requiring psychologists to clearly link cognitive assessment data to developing understanding of how these cognitive processes are hindering literacy learning, and what support strategies need to be put in place to build competence.

Cognitive Assessment: Intrusive, but Potentially Powerful

Both the New Zealand Psychologists Board and the Ministry of Education define cognitive assessment as ‘intrusive’. In this context, ‘intrusive’ refers to assessment that focuses ‘within’ the individual, suppose to the assessment being ecological and focusing on factors ‘outside’ of the individual such as the environments and broader systems in which learning occurs.

This distinction matters because ecological assessment is a cornerstone of educational psychology practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. Ecological practice prioritises understanding the factors around the individual — including curriculum, teaching approaches, classroom context, relational supports, home/school partnership — as these are the key influences on learning and the most powerful levers for intervention.

Currently in my own practice, this ecological understanding is developed through parent and child interviews, teacher reports and observations, strength-based thinking questionnaires and a review of school-based data. Cognitive assessment sits within this wider ecological picture — affirming an individual’s real-world strengths whilst also explaining why the process of literacy acquisition has been difficult and what to do about it.

Moving Away from the Historic, Deficit-Based and heavily weighted Cognitive Assessment Approach to Dyslexia

Historically, a thorough cognitive assessment, using a deficit-based, medicalised model, was used to diagnose dyslexia — and to detail everything that is cognitively ‘wrong’ with an individual. Such traditional approaches to dyslexia assessment, that included extensive testing of psychological constructs to diagnose and label, likely still continue to this day.

Strength-Based DyslexiaAssessment

Educational psychologists in New Zealand are trained to practice according to core principles, one of which is strength-based practice. Strength-based practice intentionally identifies what is already working well for a learner and asks how those existing capacities can be built upon, to enable sustainable growth.

When cognitive assessment is framed through a strength-based lens, it becomes not only ethically aligned with educational psychology practice, but meaningful in a pragmatic real-world sense as triangulated data allows you to see what cognitive strengths look like when played out across home and school contexts.

Using a strength-based framework for assessment, allows the cognitive assessment process to become affirming, rather than damming. This in turn supports individual’s self-esteem and emotional wellbeing, alongside increasing the likelihood that individuals and the teams around them can positively and effectively engage with the assessment report and following intervention priorities.

It is important to note that strength-based practice does not mean key weaker cognitive processes and literacy skills are ignored. Areas such as working memory, processing speed and various aspects of language processing that are typically explored within a dyslexia assessment, continue to be understood for the influence they have on curtailing literacy development. The key here however is that within a strength-based assessment approach, these areas of difficulty do not lead the narrative.

Aligning With Our Professional Practice Principles

As educational psychologists, our shared practice principles firmly hold us together. It is this grounding in ecological, strength-based and solution-focused practice, alongside the premise that guides all health practitioners; thou shall do no harm and actions must seek to be beneficent, that enables educational psychologists to use cognitive assessment appropriately i.e., as ‘tools as part of a broader holistic assessment process’ (Ministry of Education Kohikohi literature). When used in this way, cognitive assessment does not contradict ecological practice — it enhances it. It deepens understanding, affirms identity, supports effective and sustainable learning, and is also deeply humane.