Poster #33 - Validation of a Screening Tool for the Early Identification of Reading Problems in Kindergarten Students

• In Event: Poster Session 03

Abstract

Reading disorders may occur in as many as 1/5 to 4/10 children (Lyon, 2000), many of whom are not diagnosed until 2nd or 3rd grade. Successful remediation is much more difficult and costly if intervention is delayed. Therefore, early diagnosis of children with reading disorders could have a very significant improvement in the lives of children. Most children with reading difficulties are thought to have a fundamental deficit in phonological awareness (Catts et al., 2002). Therefore, screening all kindergarten students to identify those with deficits would facilitate early identification of children at risk for reading difficulties. There are assessments of reading readiness available, but these tests often are time consuming, costly, and often need to be individually administered. A screening vehicle, the Risk Factor Screen for Reading (RiFS), therefore was developed. The RiFS is web-based tool administered using a tablet that assesses knowledge of phonics (as measured by knowledge of letters and letter sounds) and phonemic awareness (as measured by tests of sound matching, sound segmenting, and sound blending). Students are categorized as “At Risk” or “Not at Risk” each of these areas.
The goal of this research was to establish the validity of the RiFS as an effective screening tool to identify kindergarten students who are at risk for developing reading problems. Fifty kindergarten students from a mainstream kindergarten classroom were administered the RiFS screening. Twenty-five of these students also were administered the Phonological Awareness subtests (i.e., Elison, Sound Blending, Sound Matching) of the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, 2nd Edition (CTOPP-2), a well-validated, individually administered measure of phonological processing. It is expected that data from the CTOPP-2 will be collected from the remaining 25 students in the next month. It was hypothesized that the students identified as possessing “At Risk” phonemic awareness from the RiFS will be similar to those identified as possessing weakness in this area from the CTOPP-2. On the RiFS, students were identified as “At Risk” if they correctly answered fewer than 75 percent of the items across the three phonemic awareness subtests. On the CTOPP-2, students were identified as At Risk if one or more of their subtest scaled scores fell at or below the 25th percentile. A chi-square test was performed to determine if the RiFS correctly identified students with weak phonemic awareness as defined by the CTOPP-2. Results revealed that the relationship between these two tests was significant X2(1, N=25) = 4.81, p = .03. Students who were identified as possessing At Risk phonemic awareness on the RiFS were more likely to score poorly on the CTOPP-2 measures of phonemic awareness. Significant relationships also were shown between the subtests of the RiFS scales and two CTOPP-2 scales (Sound Matching X2(1, N=25) = 6.62, p = .01; Sound Segmenting X2(1, N=25) = 3.74, p = .05). This suggests that the RiFS can be used to help identify kindergarten students who at higher risk for reading difficulties so that they can receive early intervention before they fall too far behind.

Authors

• Bennett Kuttler, Independent Researcher
  Presenting Author

• Elliot Levy

• Deborah Levy, Levy Learning Center