Screening for learning disabilities with teacher rating scales.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the use of teacher assessments in screening for learning disabilities. In a longitudinal study, 603 children were rated by their teachers in the second grade (age 8 to 9 years), and the ratings were correlated with examinations of reading, spelling, and intelligence in the third grade. The third-grade tests for reading, spelling, and intelligence classified children into groups with low achievement and dyslexia, and these two groups were compared with normally achieving children. The accuracy of teacher assessments, measured with correlation analysis, ROC curves, and kappa indices, showed that teachers were quite accurate in their judgment of low achievement, but somewhat less efficient in their judgment of specific reading difficulties.