Expert witness readings tests: more than just your ABCs

In a large number of court cases it has been necessary to consider the client's reading ability, either in relation to the nature of the case itself, such as in the Mac-10 submachine gun case, or because it was necessary to administer a test of personality or mental health.

To an expert, a reading test is not simply about a score rather than it is about the process.

A reading accuracy test where the client reads a series of individual words actually examines how the client decodes each word to work out what it says, rather than their reading ability.

Often, errors made by the client are of as much interest as the words read correctly because they tell the expert how the client is processing information. This can be used in comparison to other tests and the client's educational history.

Word alteration

One observes where they make their errors and with what sorts of words; do they replace sounds, for example 'o' for an 'a' (cot and cat), or do they replace the shape, for instance 'at' for 'ey' (that and they), so that the very nature and purpose of the word alters.

A reading comprehension test focuses on how the client reads a passage, uses information and manipulates words and sentences, rather than the ability to decode the text. Again, it is the errors that make the test useful as they facilitate the expert to work out how they are thinking and how they process information.

The relative score of each type of test and the nature of the errors may also indicate soft-features associated with specific disorders. For example, a high reading accuracy score, such as 105, compared to a lower comprehension score, such as 80, could be indicative of hyperlexia, which is generally associated with an autistic spectrum disorder.

Further, this 25 point difference is also very rare, being found in less than 5 per cent of the population. However, beyond that, a comprehension score of 80 means that several personality tests cannot be used, including the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI III), and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2 (MMPI 2), both of which need very high reading comprehension scores, typically above 100. Although it sounds obvious, it is important to select a test that the client can read and understand.

Intelligence tests

These scores can also be compared to intelligence tests because experts know there is a relationship between the scores from reading and the scores from verbal intelligence, and intelligence is linked to past schooling.

Errors made while reading are of particular importance as they may show how the client is processing information as well as revealing their educational past. Children of different ages learn different skills in reading and it is therefore possible to consider the errors in terms of an 'age equivalent.' In other words, how do the client's errors match with children of a particular age.

Miscue analysis is one way to consider the types of errors made in reading where different mistakes mean different things. On a reading comprehension test missing words out could be due to reading too quickly, but it might also be due to poor tracking of the words, or not being able to read them. However, the reversal of and jumbling the order of words within sentences are signs normally associated with younger children.

To the expert, miscues are not actually about errors, rather they are about the way in which the client is processing the information; the greater the number of miscues, the greater the difficulty with processing information, which should then be shown with other tests.

However, if a client were to try to fake their results, they would need to fake in accordance with their school history; i.e. the type of school they attended, the examinations taken and passed, their IQ scores (with an emphasis on verbal IQ and then with reading), and accuracy and comprehension where the type of errors need to match.

In the Mac-10 case, I administered two reading accuracy tests, a reading comprehension test and a personality test with a reading level at the very upper limits of the defendant's reading ability (80), all of which matched his IQ and his educational history. However, it started with just a simple reading test.

Graham Rogers is a consultant psychologist and managing director of Graham Rogers and Associates

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