An abbreviated Chinese dyslexia screening behavior checklist for primary school students using a machine learning approach.

Journal: Behavior research methods
PMID: 39075247

Abstract

To increase early identification and intervention of dyslexia, a prescreening instrument is critical to identifying children at risk. The present work sought to shorten and validate the 30-item Mandarin Dyslexia Screening Behavior Checklist for Primary School Students (the full checklist; Fan et al., , 19, 521-527, 2021). Our participants were 15,522 Mandarin-Chinese-speaking students and their parents, sampled from classrooms in grades 2-6 across regions in mainland China. A machine learning approach (lasso regression) was applied to shorten the full checklist (Fan et al., , 19, 521-527, 2021), constructing grade-specific brief checklists first, followed by a compilation of the common brief checklist based on the similarity across grade-specific checklists. All checklists (the full, grade-specific brief, and common brief versions) were validated and compared with data in our sample and an external sample (N = 114; Fan et al., , 19, 521-527, 2021). The results indicated that the six-item common brief checklist showed consistently high reliability (αs > .82) and reasonable classification performance (about 60% prediction accuracy and 70% sensitivity), comparable to that of the full checklist and all grade-specific brief checklists across our current sample and the external sample from Fan et al., , 19, 521-527, (2021). Our analysis showed that 2.42 (out of 5) was the cutoff score that helped classify children's reading status (children who scored higher than 2.42 might be considered at risk for dyslexia). Our final product is a valid, accessible, common brief checklist for prescreening primary school children at risk for Chinese dyslexia, which can be used across grades and regions in mainland China.

Authors

  • Yimin Fan
    Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Institute of Children's Reading and Learning, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Room 1415, Houzhu Building, No.19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Haidian, Beijing, China.
  • Yixun Li
    Department of Early Childhood Education, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
  • Mingyue Luo
    Department of Radiology, the Six Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510655, China (Y.C., Z.H., L.F., W.Z., D.K., D.Z., M.L.); Biomedical Innovation Center, the Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510655, China (Y.C., Z.H., L.F., W.Z., D.K., D.Z., M.L.). Electronic address: luomingy@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
  • Jirong Bai
    Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Institute of Children's Reading and Learning, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Room 1415, Houzhu Building, No.19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Haidian, Beijing, China.
  • Mengwen Jiang
    Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Institute of Children's Reading and Learning, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Room 1415, Houzhu Building, No.19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Haidian, Beijing, China.
  • Yi Xu
    School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China.
  • Hong Li
    Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical College of South Carolina, Charleston, SC.

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