Identifying dyslexia at the university: assessing phonological coding is not enough.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Educational Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Dyslexia diagnosis in Denmark relies on a limited electronic test assessing grapheme-phoneme correspondences.
• This diagnostic approach has significant implications, as support is exclusive to those formally diagnosed with dyslexia.
• The current diagnostic criteria may not adequately identify all individuals with reading difficulties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the sufficiency of the Danish diagnostic test for identifying dyslexia in university students.
• To compare the performance of students with self-reported literacy difficulties against control groups on word-level tasks.
• To assess the diagnostic accuracy of the current Danish dyslexia screening method.

Main Methods:

• 239 university students with literacy difficulties were assessed using the Danish diagnostic test.
• Participants also completed three word-level tests: low-frequency word reading, high-frequency word reading, and spelling to dictation.
• Performance was compared against separate control groups for each word-level test.

Main Results:

• 61% of students identified as "not dyslexic" by the Danish test performed significantly worse than controls on at least two word-level tests.
• Students labeled "not dyslexic" were indistinguishable from those labeled "dyslexic" based on self-reported literacy difficulties.
• The diagnostic test's reliance on grapheme-phoneme correspondences appears insufficient for comprehensive dyslexia identification.

Conclusions:

• The current Danish dyslexia diagnostic test is potentially too narrow, risking the exclusion of students needing literacy support.
• Incorporating additional word-level reading and spelling assessments could improve diagnostic accuracy.
• A revised diagnostic approach is recommended to ensure equitable access to support for individuals with dyslexia.