Detección temprana de dificultades de lectoescritura en Madrid

Resumen

Learning difficulties in the childhood population is a matter of constant concern to educators and parents. They are frequently related to reading and writing difficulties, which result in a deficient ability to process written language symbols, and induce the onset of reading and writing disorders. Their prevalence ranges 4 24 of school population. Early detection of reading and writing problems is essential for the timely implementation of appropriate treatments.This study aimed to develop and evaluate a test for the early detection of reading and writing problems of Spanish speaking children from first to sixth grades, the Test para la Detección de Dificultades de Lectoescritura TDD LE.The TDD LE is divided into two parts focused on the assessment of word reading performance and basic writing skills, respectively. The word reading part consists of 14 blocks, each containing 10 words. Word selection for the different blocks took into account education specialists criteria and the results of a pilot study performed by the author. Each word of the TDD LE is presented in a standardized manner, and the evaluator scores whether the child is able to read it either eidetically by visual recognition, in a second or less, and in a single voice stroke phonetically syllabically or in more than one second or if the child is unable to read it. Students score is based on the total number of eidetic words read and the total numbers of blocks passed. In the writing part of the TDD LE, the child must write the graphemes of the Spanish alphabet. Students score depends on the presence of missing letters, reverse letters and or mixes of capital and small letters.In this study, the TDD LE test was individually administered to the children jointly with a teachers and a pupils questionnaire. The teachers questionnaire included a subjective evaluation of the reading abilities of the children participating in the study. It also included items related to the detection of visual and perceptual problems of teachers pupils. The pupils questionnaire was essentially focused on issues related to the presence of symptoms associated to visual problems. The TDD LE and the childrens questionnaire were individually administered in situ to 393 children aged six to fourteen years, from two different schools of the Madrid region. Total time required by each child was 10 to 15 minutes.No significant differences between schools were found, whereas statistically significant differences between school grades were detected p0.0001. No significant interactions between grades and schools were found. A high percentage of pupils showed difficulties in reading and writing according to TDD LE records or to the subjective teachers opinion 16 29 and 4 26, respectively. In general, the TDD LE scores showed a close correspondence with teachers opinion about reading abilities p0.0001 75 to 84 Similarly, a high correlation was found p 0.01 ca. 0.8 between the TDD LE results and those attained with a reading objective test performed in one of the schools.Visual symptoms were reported by 21 of the children involved in the study. An association of 73 p 0.05 was found between the reading level achieved in the TDD LE test and the presence absence of visual symptoms according to childrens opinions.The proposed protocol, which combines the TDD LE test with specific questionnaires for teachers and for pupils, provides an objective, reliable and easily administered tool for early detection of reading and writing difficulties in Spanish speaking children. The TDD LE has evident advantages when compared to regular practices performed in the schools of the Madrid Community, usually based on teacher s subjective opinion and normally waiting for more advanced grades to alert of potential reading and writing difficulties. Therefore, the TDD LE allows for an earlier application of specific treatments.