reading skills, children, adolescent, 6-20 years, mental development 

Individual test for assessing the reading skills of children and adolescents with the special focus of mental development. Can be used at special schools and in inclusive education. Can be used at all ages (approx. 6 to 20 years) for students with the special focus on mental development, and at the elementary age (approx. 6 to 10 years) for students with the special focus on learning. 

The GISC-EL measures the different facets of reading in the broader (reading iconic and symbolic signs) and narrower sense (reading the alphabetic script) and also takes into account relevant precursor skills (phonological awareness and letter knowledge). The procedure follows the acquisition levels of extended reading and covers a total of 8 competence levels, ranging from reading photorealistic images to sensory text reading, each represented by a subtest. The task formats are easy to understand and can also be used with students with more severe cognitive impairments. The test results enable targeted planning of written language support and practical life support. An additional evaluation study showed that the method can also be used with children with learning difficulties.