Group Screening for Reading Disability in First Grade Children

Abstract

An approach to group screening for reading disability in children beginning first grade was developed and validated. The group screening procedure was subsequently administered to 1132 children beginning first grade, who were then taught reading by either a linguistic, special alphabet, or look-say method. At the end of first grade, children were tested for reading skills, and correlations were computed between group screening predictor variables and subsequent reading acquisition, by each teaching method. Significant relationships were obtained between screening predictors and ultimate reading skills, and for the interactions of certain screening predictors and teaching methods with reading acquisition. The study demonstrated the possibility o f early group screening by classroom teachers, and further demonstrated the feasibility of developing the techniques to choose the most appropriate method of initial reading instruction for a given child from the group screening procedure.