Background:

Specific learning disorder (SLD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairment in reading, written expression, and arithmetic. It can be identified during early school days itself. There is a lack of a screening tool for SLD that is properly validated and easy to administer. This study is an attempt to validate an ultrashort tool for screening SLD.

Methods:

This cross-sectional study was done at Government Medical College Ernakulam, South India. Children aged 6–16 years attending Psychiatry Outpatient Department were recruited by consecutive sampling. The self-administered screening tool, known as Ernakulam Learning Disorder (ELD) tool, was given twice within a gap of 2 months, and the results were compared with the clinical diagnosis, which was taken as the gold standard. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and kappa of the screening tool were calculated.

Results:

The sample consisted of children aged 8–16 years. The sensitivity and specificity of the tool were found to be 98.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 90.4–100) and 87.5 (CI = 76.8–94.4), respectively. The positive predictive value was 87.3 (CI = 76.5–94.4) and the negative predictive value was 98.2 (CI = 90.6–100). The kappa value was 0.96 (CI = 0.92–1.01).

Conclusions:

ELD tool seems highly useful as a screening instrument for detecting SLD; it is simple, easy to remember, and easy to administer.

中文翻译：

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对上学儿童特定学习障碍的超短筛查工具的验证。

背景：

特定学习障碍 (SLD) 是一种以阅读、书面表达和算术障碍为特征的神经发育障碍。它可以在早期的学生时代本身被识别出来。缺乏经过适当验证且易于管理的 SLD 筛查工具。本研究试图验证一种用于筛查 SLD 的超短工具。

方法：

这项横断面研究是在南印度的政府医学院 Ernakulam 完成的。通过连续抽样招募 6-16 岁就诊于精神科门诊的儿童。自我管理的筛查工具，称为 Ernakulam 学习障碍 (ELD) 工具，在 2 个月的间隔内进行了两次，并将结果与​​临床诊断进行比较，以作为金标准。计算筛选工具的敏感性、特异性、阳性预测值、阴性预测值和kappa。

结果：

样本由 8-16 岁的儿童组成。该工具的敏感性和特异性分别为 98.2（95% 置信区间 [CI] = 90.4-100）和 87.5（CI = 76.8-94.4）。阳性预测值为 87.3 (CI = 76.5–94.4)，阴性预测值为 98.2 (CI = 90.6–100)。kappa 值为 0.96 (CI = 0.92–1.01)。

结论：

ELD 工具作为检测 SLD 的筛查工具似乎非常有用；它简单、易记、易管理。