Dyslexia assessment in Amharic

ABSTRACT This exploratory study aimed at developing a dyslexia assessment tool in the Amharic language and to collect initial reliability and validity data on the tool designed to identify dyslexia in Grade 3. The developed battery consists of 10 tests. Data were collected from 121 Amharic-speaking children, aged 9 -12 years. Evidence of construct validity was obtained through factor analyses. Results showed that letter-naming was the most significant predictor of word-level literacy (WLL) skills in Amharic, followed by word-reading measures. Factor analysis revealed four factors: phonological-naming and decoding, comprehension, verbal short-term memory, and orthographic processing. In Amharic, which uses an alphasyllabary writing system, letter-naming is not only a vital WLL skill but also serves as a necessary foundational prerequisite for the acquisition of other WLL skills. The findings substantiate the account that even if the underlying cognitive factor responsible for dyslexia is similar among humans, its manifestations vary across languages and orthographies.