The Hong Kong Behaviour Checklist for Primary Students: Developing a brief dyslexia screening measure

Abstract

The authors report on the development of a brief dyslexia screening measure based on revising the 65-item Hong Kong Behaviour Checklist of Specific Learning Difficulties in Reading and Writing. Teachers’ ratings of 1063 primary students aged 6–14 years on the behaviour checklist provided data for its psychometric evaluation using traditional measurement and Rasch measurement model analyses. Rasch scaling suggested that the revised 36-item checklist could be regarded as a unidimensional scale that assesses global dyslexic dysfunction, and receiver operating characteristics analysis suggested that a score of 18 could be an optimal cut-off score when it is used as a dyslexia screening measure. The validity of this revised checklist was supported by its substantial and significant correlations with external measures of literacy and cognitive skills. Implications of the findings for the use of adaptive testing to provide an effective procedure for screening are discussed.

Keywords:

• adaptive testing
• behaviour checklist
• Chinese children
• dyslexia
• Hong Kong
• primary students
• Rasch scaling
• receiver operating characteristics analysis
• screening

Acknowledgements

The findings reported here are based on research conducted as part of the “Read and Write: A Jockey Club Learning Support Network” project funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust to the University of Hong Kong, and no restrictions have been imposed on free access to, or publication of, the research data. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organisations imply endorsement by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Opinions reflect those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the funding agencies. The authors had no financial or other conflicts of interest.