In order to better cope with reading difficulties, early treatment, and, consequently, early detection of deficiency are important. A high risk of developing reading difficulties can be detected even before a child learns to read, especially prior to their they enrollment in elementary school or first grade.
The main aim of the research was to design an instrument with which it would be possible to single out children with a less-developed preliteracy competence in the time of starting school. In Slovenia, we do not have a standardized instrument to assess preliteracy competence. We have developed a set of tests that assesses preliteracy competence based on well-established foreign and Slovenian instruments or tools. The development of early reading ability was assessed by the Test of Early Reading Competence (Jurišić, 2001). A sample of 307 children aged from five to seven was tested, with 64 children who were at risk for developing reading difficulties and 243 who were not. The risk was determined on the basis of the result of the Test of Early Reading Competence. A high Cronbach alpha coefficient (apha = 0,87) indicates that the designed instrument is an internally reliable instrument. Factor analysis showed that the structure of preliteracy competence consists of four factors: metaphonology, perceptual language structures, vucabulary, and visual processing. A regression analysis showed that phoneme deletion, the identification of the first sound, syllable synthesis, recalling words that start with a certain phoneme, and phoneme discrimination suffice on their own in predicting the outcome of the Test of Early Reading Competence. A discriminative analysis showed that phoneme analysis, the identification of the first sound, syllable and phoneme deletion, recalling words that start with a certain phoneme, auditory short-term memory, the identification of rhymes, and the accuracy of visual discrimination best explain the differences between the group of children with and the group of children without the risk of developing reading difficulties.
On the basis of the results obtainer in our study, we have confirmed that the deveoped instrument enables the identification of children who are at risk of developing reading difficulties when starting elementary school. The test of preliteracy competence will enable special education teachers to assess the degree of preliteracy competence development in children aged from five to seven and their early inclusion in therapy which will, in turn, enable a better prognosis with regard to the elimination of reading difficulties.
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