Analyzing the Responses of Primary School Children in Dyslexia Screening Tests

Abstract

Dyslexia is a learning disability that affects accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. Despite its prevalence, many primary school teachers and educators in India are unaware of dyslexia. Consequently, many students struggle through school without appropriate support. To facilitate identification of dyslexic students, we designed a screening test and administered it to 135 primary school children studying in Government and private schools in Haripad, a small town in Kerala State, India. The tasks included letter recognition, word recognition, recognition of rhyming words, spelling tests, and handwriting tasks in English and Malayalam (the local language), and assessed phonological awareness, visual processing, rapid naming, and motor skills. The students' answers were analyzed, mistakes were categorized, and possible causes for the mistakes were examined. This paper details the design of the screening test, its administration, the results, and conclusions drawn from the results.