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 WordDifficulties 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?