DAS is guided in its definition of Dyslexia by the Ministry of Education, Singapore in their November 2011 publication "Professional Practice Guidelines for the Psycho-educational Assessment and Placement of Students with Special Educational Needs".

Dyslexia is a type of specific learning difficulty identifiable as a developmental difficulty of language learning and cognition1. It is a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. Characteristic features of dyslexia are difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory and processing speed. Co-occurring difficulties may be seen in aspects of language, motor co-ordination, mental calculation, concentration and personal organisation, but these are not, by themselves, markers of dyslexia2.

An appropriate literacy programme should include the following components: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension3. The literacy programme provided by DAS meets these guidelines.

1 U.S. Department of Education. (2006). Assistance to States for the education of children with disabilities and preschool grants for children with disabilities; Final rule. Retrieved on May 26, 2011
from https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-12-19/pdf/2016-30190.pdf

2 Rose, J. (2009). Identifying and Teaching Children and Young People with Dyslexia and Literacy Difficulties. Nottingham: DCSF Publications.

3 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Updated as of 21 March 2019