Annals of Dyslexia

, Volume 38, Issue 1, pp 179–192 | Cite as

Screening for reading problems: The utility of SEARCH

  • Delmont Morrison
  • Panayota Mantzicopoulos
  • Elizabeth Stone
Part III Theory And Practice—Interdependent

Abstract

To evaluate the accuracy of SEARCH as a screen for identifying children at risk for developing learning problems, 1107 kindergarten children were evaluated with SEARCH and 284 (26 percent) were classified as at risk. At-risk children were of average intelligence and SEARCH scores were significantly correlated with sequential and simultaneous information processing skills. Children whose group preacademic achievement scores were at or below the third stanine at the end of kindergarten were classified as having inadequate skills for learning how to read; those scoring above the third stanine formed the adequate skills group. Using this criterion, SEARCH predicted children who had adequate or inadequate preacademic reading skills with 77 percent accuracy. However, approximately half of the children identified as at risk by SEARCH performed adequately. A reading test was individually administered to a group of at-risk children at the end of first (N=49) and second (N=35) grade. Of those children identified at risk by SEARCH at kindergarten, 39 percent at first grade and 66 percent at second grade performed at grade level. Fewer children from the upper SES were identified by SEARCH as being at risk.

Keywords

Dyslexia False Positive Error Rate False Positive Category Search Score Kaufman Assessment Battery 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© The Orton Dyslexia Society 1988

Authors and Affiliations

  • Delmont Morrison
    • 1
  • Panayota Mantzicopoulos
    • 2
  • Elizabeth Stone
    • 3
  1. 1.University of CaliforniaSan Francisco
  2. 2.University of CaliforniaBerkeley
  3. 3.Child CenterKentfield

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