[Development of grade level norms for reading speed and writing errors of Turkish elementary school children]

Despite being in the normal intelligence range, children with learning disorders fail to reach expected academic performance levels. Clinical diagnosis and decisions for therapeutic management for these children require the use of academic achievement tests. The lack of reliable achievement tests and age appropriate reading speed and writing norms hinder clinical studies with Turkish children.

To develop and establish Turkish norms of an assessment tool which will aid in the objective evaluation and diagnosis of learning disorders.

A total of 2572 children attending the 1st-5th grades of randomly selected elementary schools belonging to different socioeconomic levels constituted the sample of the study. The number of words read from grade-level appropriate scripts in 1 minute indicated reading speed. A three-sentence script containing repeating consonants p-b-t-d-m-n-v-f was dictated to determine writing errors.

Grade levels of reading speed increase and writing errors decrease as the child grows. Mean, standard deviation and standard error scores indicate that objective academic achievement criteria were reached. Achievement differences according to gender and sociocultural status, which were not the subject of this study, also seem to be important variables.