Abstract:

Recognising the risk of developing specific learning disability (SLD) in children should be one of the key competences of kindergarten and primary school teachers, especially with regard to the timely introduction of therapeutic and preventive measures to alleviate the manifestations of specific learning disabilities in younger and secondary school age, and to optimise their educational conditions.

Teachers in the Czech Republic (CZ) can use standardised diagnostic materials to identify children at risk of developing SLD to test the specific abilities and a child’s skills. However, it’s also possible to use screening materials (questionnaires) designated for teachers (or parents), which are based on the ability of the interviewee to observe children, to analyse their progress and to perceive their difficulties in education.

Within the presented research, the correlation between the test results identifying the children/pupils at risk of developing the SLD, the quality of their phonematic hearing and the ability of the educators to assess children's abilities and skills that are key to acquire reading, writing and counting (see screening questionnaire). The research survey aim is to specify the incidence frequency of children with a risk of developing SLD in the pre-school and younger school age children population in the CZ on a sample of 320 children. Also, to monitor the connection between the quality of phonemic hearing and the risk occurrence of developing SLD in children. The research aim is to further analyse the ability of kindergarten/primary school teachers to identify children/pupils at risk of developing SLD, without the use of standardised materials, i.e. based on observations of children/pupils and their partial performance during education. Research will be carried out using a mixed research design. Regarding the research methods, a standardised Readiness and Writing Risk Test for Early School-children (Švancarová, Kucharská) and the Test for Phonematic Hearing of Pre-school Chidren (Škodová Eva et al.) will be used. For finding professional erudition of kindergarten/primary school teachers in relation to their ability, to find children at risk of developing SLD among pre-school and younger school age children, the method of observation and modified version of foreign screening material (questionnaire) Scale of Dyslexia (Bogdanowicz) will be used. The research results show an occurrence of about 8% of children with a risk of developing SLD in pre-school and younger school age children in the CZ. The research assumption was denied, pointing to the link between the quality of phonematic hearing and the occurrence risk of developing SLD. Research study results also showed that educators included in the research sample are able to identify children at risk of developing SLD even without the use of standardised methods, based on observation of their skills, which are manifested during their education. It can be stated that if a child is diagnosed as a child with a risk of developing SLD using a standardised test, then independently of this test, this child was identified as a child at risk of developing SLD by a kindergarten/primary school teacher, based on child observation and a reflection record of the child's behaviour in the screening questionnaire.The research results show the excellent ability of kindergarten/primary school teachers in the CZ to reveal these children in the pre-school and younger school children group, even without the use of standardised tests.

Keywords:

The Risk of Developing SLD, a Pre-School Child, a Younger School Aged Child, Diagnostics and Teachers’ Competencies.