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Had a Lindamood-Bell Assessment? What Results Mean | Learnability

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You've completed the assessment, and now you have a results page in front of you with terms like symbol imagery and concept imagery, along with a set of scores that may or may not mean much to you on their own. This is where a lot of parents feel a bit stuck — the hard part of scheduling and completing the assessment is done, but understanding what it actually tells you is a different challenge entirely.

A Quick Recap of What's Being Measured

A Lindamood-Bell Assessment looks specifically at two underlying skills: symbol imagery, the ability to visualize letters and sounds within words, which supports accurate reading and spelling; and concept imagery, the ability to form a mental picture from language, which drives comprehension. These are different from basic decoding accuracy, which is why this assessment can reveal things a standard reading test might miss.

What Your Specific Results Are Telling You

If your child's results show weaker symbol imagery, this typically points toward difficulty with reading fluency, spelling, and accurate word recognition, even if basic decoding seems okay on the surface. If results show weaker concept imagery, this typically points toward difficulty with comprehension — understanding and remembering what's read or heard, even when word reading itself is accurate.

Signs and Symptoms That Often Match Each Pattern

  • Weaker symbol imagery often shows up as: slow, effortful reading, inconsistent spelling, difficulty with reading fluency
  • Weaker concept imagery often shows up as: reading words accurately but struggling to explain what was read, difficulty following multi-step directions or longer stories

How Parents Can Understand Their Child's Specific Profile

Ask the person who conducted the assessment to walk you through exactly which specific area showed the most significant difficulty, and what that means in practical, everyday terms — not just the technical scores. A good explanation should help you recognize the pattern in your child's actual daily reading behavior, not just on paper.

Common Problems and Possible Solutions

A common mistake is treating all reading difficulties as the same and applying a generic reading program regardless of what the assessment actually showed. The value of a Lindamood-Bell Assessment specifically is that it points toward a targeted program matched to the actual skill gap, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

What Parents Can Do at Home

  • Ask for a plain-language summary of the results if the report itself feels too technical
  • Notice which everyday reading behaviors match the specific pattern identified in the assessment
  • Avoid assuming general reading practice alone will address a specific symbol or concept imagery gap
  • Keep the results on hand for any future conversations with teachers or specialists

What Kind of Professional Support May Help?

If symbol imagery is the primary gap, our Seeing Stars® program is built specifically to strengthen it. If concept imagery is the primary gap, our Visualizing and Verbalizing® program addresses that directly. You can learn more about our full Lindamood-Bell® program offerings as well.

How Long Can Improvement Take?

This varies by child and by the specific pattern identified, but many families notice meaningful movement within a few months of consistent, targeted instruction matched to their child's actual assessment results.

How The Learnability Can Help

At The Learnability, we're happy to review Lindamood-Bell Assessment results completed elsewhere and explain exactly what they mean for your child, along with a specific program recommendation matched to those results. Reach out to us to talk through your child's results.

About The Learnability and Founder Laila Madhani

The Learnability was founded by Laila Madhani, who leads our approach to individualized, evidence-informed learning support for children and families. You can learn more about our story and approach on our About Us page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my child have weaknesses in both symbol imagery and concept imagery?
Yes, and when this is the case, a combined or sequential approach addressing both may be recommended.

Do I need to redo the assessment if I already have results from elsewhere?
No, existing results can typically be reviewed directly to determine the right next step.

What if the results seem inconsistent with what I see at home?
This is worth discussing directly with a specialist, since real-world behavior and formal testing can sometimes differ for various reasons.

Does my child need a diagnosis in addition to this assessment?
Not necessarily. This assessment can guide next steps on its own, without a separate formal diagnosis.

Can the follow-up program be delivered online?
Yes, Lindamood-Bell-based programs can be delivered effectively online, one-on-one.

Conclusion and Next Step

Assessment results are only useful once you understand what they mean and act on them. Contact The Learnability to talk through your child's results and the right next step.

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The Learnability is not affiliated with, certified, endorsed, licensed, monitored, or sponsored by Lindamood-Bell® or its founders. Lindamood-Bell® does not endorse or monitor the services provided by The Learnability.

My Child Had a WADE or WIST Assessment — Now What? | Learnability

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You did the hard part already. You noticed something wasn't quite right, you followed through, and your child completed a WADE or WIST assessment. Maybe you have the results in hand right now, sitting in your inbox or in a folder somewhere, and you're staring at a page full of scores and terms that don't mean much on their own. Or maybe the assessment is scheduled and you're just trying to get ahead of what comes after.

Either way, here's the part nobody tells you clearly enough: the assessment itself was never the finish line. It was the starting point.

Quick Recap: What These Assessments Actually Measure

In short, the WADE looks at how a child decodes and spells words, using both real and made-up words, specifically to plan Wilson Reading System instruction. WIST measures word reading and spelling more broadly. Both give you a precise, evidence-based picture of exactly where your child's reading or spelling breaks down. If you'd like to read what our specialists have to say on related topics, take a look through our blog.

So What Do the Results Actually Tell You?

A completed assessment tells you two things that matter enormously for what comes next: specifically where your child's skills are strong, and specifically where they're not. That's genuinely valuable information — but on its own, a set of scores doesn't build a single new skill. The value only shows up once someone uses those results to build the right plan.

What Should Happen After the Assessment

  • Someone should walk you through what the scores actually mean — not just hand you a report, but explain it in plain language you can actually use
  • The results should point to a specific starting level — not a generic "start from the beginning," but the exact point in a program like Wilson that matches your child's current skills
  • You should leave with a real next step — a recommended program, a session frequency, and a sense of what progress will actually look like

If you finished an assessment and none of this happened — if you just got a report and were left to figure out the rest yourself — that's a real gap, and it's worth seeking out someone who will close it for you.

What If the Results Show a Significant Gap?

This is often the moment parents feel the most anxious, and it's worth pausing on. A significant gap on an assessment isn't a life sentence — it's clarity. It means you now know, specifically, what's been getting in your child's way, instead of guessing. That specificity is what makes an effective plan possible in the first place.

How The Learnability Uses Assessment Results

At The Learnability, if your child has already completed a WADE or WIST assessment elsewhere, we're happy to review those results with you and explain exactly what they mean for next steps. If a Wilson Reading System program is the right fit based on the results, we'll place your child at the correct starting level rather than guessing. You can see our full range of programs on our services page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to redo the assessment if I already have results from somewhere else?
Not necessarily. Bring your existing results to a conversation with us, and we can typically work from those directly.

What if I don't fully understand my child's assessment report?
That's extremely common, and it's exactly the kind of thing worth asking a specialist to walk you through directly.

How soon after the assessment should we start a program?
Generally, sooner is better — momentum matters, and waiting too long after an assessment can mean losing some of the specificity of where your child was at that point in time.

What if the assessment showed my child is close to grade level?
Even a smaller gap is worth addressing directly, especially if it's been a source of frustration. Early, targeted support tends to close small gaps faster than waiting does.

Can this be done online?
Yes. Reviewing results and starting a program can both be done fully online, one-on-one with a trained specialist.

Don't Let the Results Sit in a Folder

An assessment only becomes useful once it turns into an actual plan. If you have results in hand and aren't sure what to do with them, let's talk through it together.

Get in touch with us to review your child's results directly. 📞 (310) 218-9466 📧 info@thelearnability.com

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