The child's short term and long term memory for words and memory for sentences should be assessed. Finally, the child's attention should be assessed. An assessment of reading should include testing the child's ability to decode and comprehend the written word and passages. Decoding is the ability to read words and is often tested by having children read lists of unrelated words so that they cannot use context clues to guess the words. An assessment of reading comprehension should include an assessment of the child's ability to learn facts while reading as well as an assessment of the child's ability to draw inferences from reading.
Writing is the most often overlooked area in school case study evaluations.
Handwriting, writing mechanics, spelling, and written formulation should all be assessed. Writing mechanics are the rules for writing, such as capatilization rules and punctuation rules.