Phonological Assessment Battery (PhAB2)

Suspecting your child has reading difficulties? Want to know exactly what they’re struggling with or which level they are at?

The Phonological Assessment Battery, 2nd edition (PhAB2), can assess the level of phonological awareness in children with reading difficulties. The PhAB2 makes use of 10 subtests to explore a child’s level of phonological awareness, testing the following areas: 

Ψ Alliteration: Ability to isolate the initial sounds in single syllable words
Ψ Blending: Ability to combine sounds to make a spoken word
Ψ Fluency: Retrieval of phonological information from long-term memory
Ψ Naming speed: Speed of phonological production (2 tests)
Ψ Non-word reading: Ability to decode letter strings
Ψ Phonological working memory: Ability to use short-term memory for phonological segments 
Ψ Phoneme segmentation: Ability to separate spoken words into their constituent phonemes 
Ψ Phoneme deletion: Ability to anticipate how a word would sound if one phoneme is deleted
Ψ Phoneme substitution: Ability to both detect and manipulate phonemes
Ψ Rhyme test: Ability to identify the rhyme in single syllable words 

Given the high number of subtests, this makes the PhAB2 useful in zoning in on the phonological difficulties that children may experience. The focus on phonological awareness and reading difficulties also makes this test suitable for assessing children who are suspected to have dyslexia.

While the test does not provide an official diagnosis of dyslexia, it highlights specific issues in reading and spelling. Such information can be useful in designing intervention programs (assisted by a child psychologist!) or parts of a child’s education program to facilitate their learning and improve their literacy skills.