Dyslexia screening measures and bilingualism

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Linguistics
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Specific learning difficulties (SpLD), commonly known as dyslexia, affect reading and spelling.
• Understanding SpLD in bilingual children is crucial for accurate diagnosis and support.
• Previous research has explored SpLD in monolinguals, but bilingual SpLD requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of dyslexia screening measures in identifying SpLD in Sylheti/English bilingual children.
• To compare the performance of bilingual children with SpLD to their monolingual peers.
• To investigate the utility of phonological, naming, memory, and motor skills assessments in differentiating SpLD.

Main Methods:

• Administered a battery of dyslexia screening tests to 7-8-year-old English monolinguals and Sylheti/English bilinguals.
• Identified a subgroup with specific literacy difficulties (SpLD) excluding other potential causes.
• Controlled for general ability, age, sex, and bilingualism between SpLD and control groups.

Main Results:

• Phonological measures consistently differentiated SpLD bilinguals from their peers, showing similar patterns in monolinguals.
• Rapid naming, verbal/non-verbal sequence recall, and visual-motor skills also contributed to differentiation.
• Small sample sizes, particularly for bilingual SpLD cases, necessitate cautious interpretation.

Conclusions:

• Dyslexia screening measures, especially phonological assessments, can effectively identify SpLD in bilingual children.
• Findings suggest that underlying phonological deficits in SpLD are consistent across monolingual and bilingual populations.
• Differences observed between bilingual and monolingual groups may reflect bilingual influences or test reliability.