Teachers’ intuition and knowledge in detecting specific learning disabilities

• Published in: Zbornik Instituta za pedagoška istraživanja Vol. 44; no. 2; pp. 316 - 331
• Main Authors: Obradovic, Svetlana, Krstic, Nadezda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute for Educational Research, Belgrade 2012
• Subjects: methodological issues; specific developmental learning disabilities; teachers’ perception
• ISSN: 0579-6431; 1820-9270
• DOI: 10.2298/ZIPI1202316O

The aim of the study was to investigate primary school teachers? proficiency
in detecting the ability-achievement discrepancy as a landmark of possible
specific developmental learning disabilities (SLD). Twenty-two teachers in
five schools attempted to select, in accordance with their perception and out
of a larger preliminary sample, those students whose school results revealed:
(a) discrepancy between school achievement and general abilities (the group
of purportedly disharmonic children, GPD) or (b) concordance between general
abilities and achievement (the group of purportedly harmonic children, GPH).
The children were tested by REVISK, while teachers re-assessed students?
reading, writing and arithmetic performance against a simple structured
questionnaire based on demands of the approved elementary school program
delineated by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia. Research
results indicate that more than 60% of children originally qualified to GPH
have actually shown significant discrepancy between targeted scholastic
skills and (normal) general intelligence. The data suggested some association
between students? disparity in attainment and teachers? attribution accuracy,
while the only homogenous quantitative marker of misplaced children were
decreased values on some of the REVISK Verbal subscale tests. This study has
shown that teachers can use their professional knowledge to enhance their
capability to detect children with specific learning disabilities. In absence
of criterion-referenced tests of reading, writing and mathematics, a
structured approach to the projected course of skill progress might support
teachers? confidence regarding likely SLD.
U ovom istrazivanju je ispitivana uspesnost nastavnika u opazanju diskrepance
izmedju sposobnosti i postignuca kao znaka specificnih razvojnih smetnji u
ucenju (SSU). Dvadeset i dva nastavnika iz pet osnovnih skola su prema
sopstvenom dozivljaju izdvojili, iz veceg preliminarnog uzorka, ucenike za
koje su pretpostavili: (a) nesklad skolskog postignuca i opste sposobnosti
(grupa sa pretpostavljenom diskrepancom, GPD) ili (b) harmonicnost
sposobnosti i postignuca (GPH). Deca su ispitana REVISK-om, dok su nastavnici
dodatno precizirali uspesnost ovih ucenika u citanju, pisanju i racunanju
jednostavnim strukturiranim upitnikom zasnovanim na zahtevima skolskog plana
i programa koje propisuje Ministarstvo prosvete Republike Srbije. Rezultati
istrazivanja pokazuju da vise od 60% dece svrstane u GPH ispoljilo je
diskrepancu izmedju postignuca u ovladavanju ciljnim skolskim vestinama i
opste inteligencije. Registrovana je povezanost izmedju disharmonije unutar
skolskog postignuca deteta i ispravne procene diskrepance od strane
nastavnika, a jedini homogeni kvantitativni marker pogresnog svrstavanja u
grupu su bile snizeni skorovi na delu suptestova Verbalne skale REVISK-a. Ovo
istrazivanje je pokazalo da u profesionalnom znanju nastavnika postoje
oslonci koji bi im mogli olaksati prepoznavanje deteta sa SSU. Do usvajanja
kriterijumskih testova citanja, pisanja i racunanja, strukturiran pristup
postojecim zahtevima skolskog programa bi mogao pomoci nastavnicima pri
donosenju ovakvih procena.