Development of Computerized Tool for Screening Thai Children at Risk for Learning Disabilities

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Background:

• Learning Disability (LD) poses significant challenges for children's academic and social development.
• Early identification and intervention are crucial for mitigating the long-term effects of LD.
• Existing screening tools may require optimization for efficiency and accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a computerized version of the "Noo-Khor-Arn" screening test for Thai children at risk of LD.
• To identify the most relevant test categories and subtests for differentiating between children with LD and typically developing (TD) children.
• To streamline the screening process by identifying key linguistic, decoding, and naming tasks.

Main Methods:

• Development of a computerized "Noo-Khor-Arn" test with six categories and 23 subtests.
• Administration of the computerized test to 110 Thai children (7-12 years old), comprising 50 with LD and 60 TD children.
• Statistical analysis using Two-factor balanced Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to compare group performance.

Main Results:

• The computerized test revealed significant differences between LD and TD groups in tasks related to linguistics, decoding, and naming.
• Key differentiating tasks included Phonological Awareness (PA), Morphological Awareness (MA), Decoding (DEC), and Rapid Naming (RN).
• Other test categories did not show significant differences between the groups, suggesting potential for streamlining.

Conclusions:

• The computerized "Noo-Khor-Arn" test effectively screens for learning disabilities in Thai children.
• Linguistic and decoding-related subtests are particularly valuable for identifying children at risk for LD.
• The findings support the use of this digital tool for more efficient and targeted LD screening.