Kindergarten screening tools filled out by parents and teachers targeting dyslexia. Predictions and developmental trajectories from age 5 to age 15 years.

The study investigates how close caregivers can contribute to early identification of dyslexia in pre-school children. The objective of the study was twofold: The first objective was to assess the extent to which specific screening tools used to identify dyslexia, which were filled in by kindergarten staff or guardians, could predict the children's written and oral school performance when they were 15 years old. The second objective was to investigate the extent to which these tools would reveal the same differences between the dyslexia group and the control group (children who were not at risk of developing dyslexia) as seen in individual tests. In addition, the researchers wanted to see how reading and writing skills developed over the ten years, and to identify different developmental patterns in the children.

The researchers conclude that screening tools filled in by close caregivers provide valuable information about reliable early indicators and developmental patterns of dyslexia. Such screening tools, which can be used by the children's kindergarten teachers and guardians, identified clear differences between the control group and the dyslexia group in the same way as the individual tests. The results therefore show that it is possible to identify early indications of different developmental pathways for dyslexia. The researchers behind the study believe this will have practical significance for the work on teaching and planning measures.

The study is based on data collected from the Bergen Longitudinal Dyslexia Study, which followed a cross-section of Norwegian children from the age of five to eleven. Ten pre-selected kindergartens spread over four municipalities in Western Norway were invited to participate. Parents of 109 of the 120 five-year-olds in question consented to participate in the study. Three screening tools that could be filled in by the children's caregivers were used: RI-5 (a questionnaire to assess the risk of dyslexia); TRAS (a non-standard observational tool for children's communication skills) and CCC-2 (a questionnaire to assess language development disorders). The sample in this study consists of 41 children (13 in the dyslexia group and 28 in the control group).

Helland, T., Morken, F., & Helland, W. A. (2021). "Kindergarten screening tools filled out by parents and teachers targeting dyslexia. Predictions and developmental trajectories from age 5 to age 15 years". Dyslexia, 27(4):413-435.