DENVER, July 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Reading Guru, a leading provider of online Orton-Gillingham reading tutoring, today announced the launch of its free Dyslexia Screening Test, a tool designed to help parents independently check whether their child may be showing signs of dyslexia or other reading difficulties – no matter what their school or state says.
The screening test, available at readingguru.com/dyslexia-test, takes just 5 to 10 minutes to complete and is administered by a parent at home. It combines two research-informed components: a nonsense-word decoding check, which measures a child’s ability to sound out unfamiliar letter combinations using phonics rules, and a real-word reading check based on the San Diego Quick Assessment, a widely used tool for estimating reading level by grade.
The launch comes as a growing body of research raises questions about whether state reading tests are giving parents an accurate picture. A recent analysis by FutureEd, an independent education policy think tank, found that in three-quarters of states, proficiency rates on state reading assessments were inflated by at least 15 percentage points versus the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the federal benchmark often called “the Nation’s Report Card.”
“A lot of parents see a ‘proficient’ or ‘on grade level’ mark on a report card or state test and reasonably assume their child is reading where they should be,” said Joanna Brown, founder and CEO of The Reading Guru and a master Orton-Gillingham reading teacher with more than 15 years of experience. “In more and more states, that grade means something different than it used to – or something different than parents think it means. We wanted to give parents a quick, independent way to check for themselves if their children might be at risk for dyslexia or otherwise behind where they should be in reading.”
The test was built by The Reading Guru’s team based on Orton-Gillingham principles, the same evidence-based, systematic approach to phonics and decoding instruction used in the company’s tutoring programs. At the end of the test, parents receive an immediate on-screen report and an emailed copy, showing their child’s decoding accuracy and estimated reading level compared to grade-level expectations, along with a plain-language explanation of the results.
“This is a dyslexia screening tool, and it can’t make a formal diagnosis,” Brown noted. “But it does a real, structured check of your child’s reading ability. Have your child take the test. If something looks off, you should ask more questions now, not after years of struggling.”
The Reading Guru’s Dyslexia Screening Test is free to use and available to parents of children from kindergarten through 12th grade and beyond. No account or payment is required to take the test or receive the results.
For more information about the Dyslexia Screening Test, visit readingguru.com/dyslexia-test. To learn more about The Reading Guru, visit readingguru.com.
About The Reading Guru
Founded in 2010, The Reading Guru is a leading provider of online Orton-Gillingham reading tutor services. The company also offers in-person reading tutoring in New York City, Denver, and Austin. Joanna Brown, founder and CEO of The Reading Guru, is a master Orton-Gillingham reading teacher with more than 15 years of experience providing personalized, one-on-one reading instruction to students with dyslexia and other reading difficulties. Joanna and her team at The Reading Guru have helped thousands of students crack the reading code.
For more information about The Reading Guru, visit readingguru.com.
Media Contact:
Company: The Reading Guru
Contact person: Seth Brown
Website: readingguru.com
Email: seth@readingguru.com
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