REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON HIGHER EDUCATION-COMMUNITY-INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT

7-9 MAY 2012PURI PUJANGGA HOTEL, UKM, BANGI

Dyslexia Screening Test in Bahasa Malaysia

Ketua Projek: Prof. Madya Dr. Sharanjeet Kaur

Dys + lexia

Difficulty Word

Difficulties with words

Hidden Disability

Literate85%

Illiterate15%

Literacy Rate among Year 1 Children at the end of 2010

(PEMANDU, 2011)

7 % of standard 2 Malay children were found to have dyslexia (Gomez 2000)

4.43% of undergraduate university students were found to have dyslexia (Ong et al. 2009)

• Presently - no Malaysian standardized instruments to identify children with specific reading difficulties.

• In March 2001, the Ministry of Education officials formulated a checklist for screening all Malaysian children in Standard 1.

• The checklist (‘Senarai Semak Disleksia’) consists of three elements: – (i) pupils’ level of mastery in reading

and writing (spelling) and numeracy skills (difficulties);

– (ii) teachers’/parents’ perception of pupils’ abilities (strengths); and

– (iii) predictors of dyslexia.

Objectives• To develop and validate the Dyslexia Screening Test Bahasa

Malaysia (DSTBM).• To determine the effectiveness of the DSTBM to identify

dyslexic children.• To determine the visual status of children with dyslexia.• To determine the language and literacy abilities of children

with dyslexia.• To determine the auditory status of children with dyslexia.• To determine the internalizing and externalizing problems of

children with dyslexia.

• Adapted from Fawcett & Nicolson (1996) and developed by lecturers from multidisciplinary field of Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

• For school professionals• Wan Nor Azlen (2004) provides norms for 8-year-

old children.• Psychometric properties has not been reported.

Dyslexia Screening Test Bahasa Malaysia (DSTBM)

Study Design & Sample

• Cross-sectional design• Standard 2 children – 7:6 – 8:6 (n= 501)• Cluster sampling• 5 Sekolah Kebangsaan at Klang Valley area• Received at least 15 months of formal

instruction.

DSTBM has 11 subsets:1. Rapid naming2. One minute reading3. Two minutes spelling4. Postural stability5. Bead Threading6. One minute writing7. Nonsense passage reading8. Phonemic segmentation9. Semantic fluency10. Verbal fluency11. Backward digit span

ARQ < 1.085%

ARQ > 1.015%

Number of children at-risk(At-risk Quotient > 1.0)

RESULTS

Cronbach’s Alpha of DSTBM Cronbach's Alpha if Item DeletedRapid Naming 0.782Bead Threading 0.814One Minuet Reading 0.742Postural Stability 0.824Phonemic Segmentation 0.752Two Minutes Spelling 0.750Backward Digit Span 0.784Nonsense Passage Reading 0.764One Minute Writing 0.761Verbal Fluency 0.759Semantic Fluency 0.777

Overall Cronbach’s Alpha 0.792

Challenges of the project

Lack of awareness in Parents & Teachers

Lack of human

resources for

diagnostic

High drop-out rate

for diagnosis

Benefits of community

Confirmed Dyslexia

Educational Placement

Intervention Planning

Benefits of community

Helpful tool for teachers at school level to determine whether a student needs further

evaluation by clinical or educational psychologist.

EARLY DETECTIONEARLY INTERVENTION – now also in

planningBefore the dyslexics lose their self-esteem

FUTURE

Conclusions• With the exclusion of Postural Stability subtest

and Bead Threading subtest, DSTBM is currently a reliable and valid dyslexia screening instrument for eight-year-old Malay speaking children.

Who are the dyslexics?