Assessing dyslexia in early grades: Teacher perspectives on screening and evaluation in Vietnam

It is necessary to understand the difficulties in learning to read facing by students with dyslexia for support at initial years of primary education. This study aims to develop and normalize a screening questionnaire, which is expected to be easy for classroom teachers in identifying the specific reading difficulty/dyslexia of their students. A screening questionnaire with 17 items corresponding to the behavioral signs of dyslexic students has been developed and given for teachers’ observation. Each item was evaluated on a 4-point Likert scale (not found = 0; occasionally = 1; often = 2; always = 3). The questionnaire was developed in relation to the context of teaching reading at initial grades of primary schools in Vietnam. 109 students with dyslexia at grades 1-3 were selected and then reported by 109 classroom teachers via the questionnaire. It found that the mean of total score was 39.83 (SD = 6.62). The lowest score means found at items relating to difficulties in letter reading and phonological awareness, while the highest ones showed at items relating to difficulties in reading fluency, reading comprehension and writing. In addition, the score average slightly reduced throughout the school years. However, the decrease found in items relating to letter reading and phonological awareness, while the items of other areas appeared to remain stable. The questionnaire can be useful for teachers in terms of practice and for developing other tools to identify and educate these students.