Early Identification of Reading Difficulties: A Screening Strategy that Adjusts the Sensitivity to the Level of Prediction Accuracy

Abstract

Early screening for reading difficulties before the onset of instruction is desirable because it allows intervention that is targeted at prevention rather than remediation of reading difficulties. However, early screening may be too inaccurate to effectively allocate resources to those who need them. The present study compared the accuracy of early screening before the onset of formal reading instruction with late screening six months into the first year of instruction. The study followed 164 Danish students from the end of Grade 0 to the end of Grade 2. Early screening included measures of phonemic awareness, rapid naming, letter knowledge, paired associate learning, and reading. Late screening included only reading. Results indicated that reading measures improved substantially as predictors over the first six months of Grade 1, to the point where late reading measures alone provided as much information as the early measures combined. In the light of these results and a less than perfect early screening accuracy, a new strategy for screening is introduced and discussed. The strategy proposes multi-point screening with gradually increasing sensitivity to strike a balance between manageable screening procedures and outcomes and early identification of students who are most likely in need of extra resources. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Validity Evidence of the Reading Screening Test for Portuguese First Graders

“…Difficulties in reading have been observed in students with learning disabilities (Benner et al, 2010). Some other students show difficulties in reading with no diagnosis of learning difficulties right at the beginning of schooling as well (Poulsen et al, 2017). Good levels of reading skills play a key role on the individuals' personal and professional development (Jamshidifarsani et al, 2019).…”

Multifactorial pathways facilitate resilience among kindergarteners at risk for dyslexia: A longitudinal behavioral and neuroimaging study

“…An important ongoing challenge is to determine the specific developmental timeframe in which early screening may be most reliable and effective. Recognizing the rapid development of the behavioral skills that are assessed in early screening at the preschool/kindergarten age 81 , screening conducted at the emergent reading stage based on word reading abilities has shown accurate prediction of subsequent outcomes 82 . Accordingly, multi-stage screening over the course of reading acquisition has been proposed when feasible, which has been shown to minimize the rate of false-positive identifications 82,83 .…”

“…Recognizing the rapid development of the behavioral skills that are assessed in early screening at the preschool/kindergarten age 81 , screening conducted at the emergent reading stage based on word reading abilities has shown accurate prediction of subsequent outcomes 82 . Accordingly, multi-stage screening over the course of reading acquisition has been proposed when feasible, which has been shown to minimize the rate of false-positive identifications 82,83 . Yet, additional evidence suggests that intervention is more effective when provided earlier rather than later 24,[84][85][86][87] .…”

“…The present findings point towards several specific strategies that may be employed to best serve at-risk children identified based on current methods of early screening, such that if a child is identified as at-risk based on the key predictors of dyslexia (phonological awareness, rapid naming, letter identification, oral language skills), then next steps would involve the following: (a) refer this child to evaluation by a speech-language pathologist to consider relative strengths or weaknesses in the areas of speech and language, (b) assess nonverbal cognitive abilities to determine whether this may be a relative strength or weakness, and (c) acquire information about the home environment in order to identify whether this will likely be a source of support, or to consider approaches to supporting the home environment through educational and clinical services provided to parents. From there, continued progress monitoring and implementation of multi-stage screening are recommended whenever feasible, to minimize inaccurate allocation of services to those who may not need it 82,83 . Ultimately, this approach offers great promise to promote optimal outcomes when children are then provided with early Multifactorial pathways towards resilience for children at risk for dyslexia 19 intervention that targets each child's specific risk profile and builds upon areas of strength as potential protective factors or compensatory strategies.…”

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“…The importance of early identification of DD is widely acknowledged ( Snowling, 2013 ). Early identification can allow early intervention to be implemented to mitigate some of the negative effects associated with reading skills ( Poulsen et al, 2017 ). Thus, universal screening instruments can be applied to pupils as early as the beginning of primary school and have been revised constantly to apply to younger children.…”