“it’s never too early”

S. Marino 4-6 Luglio 2011 EDA Summer School

“It’s never too early”

A policy of screening in primary school

Roberta PengeA.I.D.


Secondary Prevention of SLD

SLD are still detected too often after the 3rd school year

➔ increased severity and ➔ increased effect on general learning.➔ increased secondary problems

✔ psychopathology, ✔ social maladjustment✔ cognitive impoverishing✔ POOR GENERAL OUTCOME


Secondary Prevention of SLD A definite diagnosis of SLD can be made at the

end of the second school year: Completed theaching course Reduction of interindividual variability

Pedagogic and rehabilitative interventions show their maximum efficacy within the third school year;

There is a general agreement about criteria for diagnostic suspect of SLD (in Italian language) at the end of the first school year Monitoring them for a diagnostic confirmation


How to improve early diagnosis of SLD?

Pediatricians, Teachers and Parents Sensibilization

Screening projects


Screenings aimed to prevention and early diagnosis

Built on the research-action models Made by the school with clinical supervision

Aimed to detect at risk areas Aimed to detect at risk groups

Followed by specific teaching activities Only “resistent” subjects will be sent to clinicians

for a diagnostic procedure


Precedent italian experiences:Screening projects had shown efficacy on:

Teachers sensibility to LDTechers teaching strategies

School based intervention within screening projects had shown efficacy on reducing at risk populationBut not below 4%

Screening projects had not proved their sensibility and specificity


It’s never too early


Objectives 1

To follow reading and writing acquisition in 8000 children

in different Italian regions

From the first to the third school year

Offering to teachers the opportunity to deep their formation about learning processes an written language teaching


Objectives 2

Detecting SLD at risk children and monitoring them for three years

Verifying in a retrospective way the sensitivity and the specificity of the instruments at the different steps

Offering to the Ministry of Education with a scientific based tool to extend its application to the entire school system


Attended Results

o Monitoring of reading and writing acquisition in Italian children;

o Early detection, diagnosis and intervention of SLD children -> reduction of the severity of the disturbances;

o Constuction and validation of a simple and faithful instrument able to correctly detect SLD children (false positives and false negatives reduction).

o Increasing of knowledge about SLD in the teachers


Projet phases May 2010 September 2010 December 2010

May 2011

September 2011 December 2011

May 2012 September 2012

First Screening Teachers formation Monitoring of at risk children

Teachers Formation and second screening

Teachers Formation Monitoring of at risk children

Teacher Formation and third screening

Final meeting


Instuments: Writing task (word

dictation)

Teachers Inventory on Reading and Writing competences

Results of the two tests will be compared each other

In the overall sample And comparing

different regions/school/classes


Data will be collected and analysed in anonimous way;

Teachers will receive pedagogic directions constructed on the base of the “profile” of their class/school;

Only if persistent difficulties will be detected (children at risk at least two times) parents will be alerted and invited to start a diagnostic process


15 “poli”

Cagliari

Cuneo, Torino, Biella

Savona

Ragusa

Agrigento

Vibo Valentia

Bari,Foggia

Avellino,Benevento

Napoli,Salerno

CampobassoTeramo

Chieti

Fermo,Macerata

Pisa,Livorno

Roma

Bergamo, Cremona


Subjects

8397

8574

8777

9455Ipotheticalsample

Real sample

Screeningsample

Typically developingsample

?No parental consensus

(0,4-1%)

Schools refusal

(3)

Diagnosis H (93)

Diagnosis DS-Em

(170)

Bilinguism

(1151)


Screening data Data about parents,home spoken language, presence of

known disturbances Tasks

Word dictation 16–23 words numbers and calculation (II grade)

Teachers Inventory Reading writing Comprehension Graphia

Scores distribution in the mother languge italian typically developing group has been used to define two cut off points (delay, inadequate)


Monitoring selection

All children with very low skills (inadequate) in at least one of: Reading speedness or correctness (teachers’

inventory) Writing correctness (teachers’ inventory)Writing correctness (dictation)


Children chosen fo monitoring step (950 sbj)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

let scr det scrdet lescr ledet lescde


Monitored subjects

702

824

126

950Initial sample

“absent” poli

“present” poli

Monitored

No consensus

(1,4%)

Absent/trasferred

(6,2%)

Diagnosis(2,2%)

Other

(3,1%)


Monitoring TasksText reading (2 minuts)

SpeedCorrectness

Word writingCorrectness

Tasks standardized on italian population; Cut off are taken from normative data (sufficient;

attention requested; intervention required)


Scores distribution

8%

19%

4%9%

10%

6%

19%

73%19%

6%

adeg RA vel cor det veldet velcor cordet velcordet

Indadeqaute skills: 31% one task; 25% two tasks; 19% three tasks


Relationship among skills at the end of the first year and those at the middle

of the second year

The presence of inadequate skills on at least two parameters is a better indicator of the stability of inadequateness

The collection of observational data from teachers seems to increase the attendibility of the objective data

“it’s never too early”

Documents

eda summer schoolits

eda summer schoolobjectives

eda summer schoolscreenings

eda summer schoolhow

earlyeda summer schools

teacherseda summer schools

specificityeda summer

early diagnosis of sld