The quandary of diagnosing mathematical difficulties in a generally low performing population

ABSTRACT. Brazilian students’ mathematical achievement was repeatedly observed to fall below average levels of mathematical attainment in international studies such as PISA. Objective: In this article, we argue that this general low level of mathematical attainment may interfere with the diagnosis of developmental dyscalculia when a psychometric criterion is used establishing an arbitrary cut-off (e.g., performance<percentile 10) may result in misleading diagnoses. Methods: Therefore, the present study evaluated the performance of 706 Brazilian school children from 3rd to 5th grades on basic arithmetic operations addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Results: In line with PISA results, children presented difficulties in all arithmetic operations investigated. Even after five years of formal schooling, less than half of 5th graders performed perfectly on simple addition, subtraction, or multiplication problems. Conclusions: As such, these data substantiate the argument that the sole use of a psychometric criterion might not be sensible to diagnose dyscalculia in the context of a generally low performing population, such as Brazilian children of our sample. When the majority of children perform poorly on the task at hand, it is hard to distinguish atypical from typical numerical development. As such, other diagnostic approaches, such as Response to Intervention, might be more suitable in such a context.

The quandary of diagnosing mathematical difficulties in a generally low performing population

Brazilian students’ mathematical achievement was repeatedly observed to fall below average levels ofmathematical attainment in international comparison studies such as PISA. In this article, we argue thatthis general low level of mathematical attainment interferes with the diagnosis of developmentaldyscalculia when the psychometric criterion is used: establishing of an arbitrary cut-off (e.g., performance&lt; percentile 10) may lead to misleading diagnoses. Therefore, the present study set off to evaluate theperformance of Brazilian school children on basic arithmetic operations. Seven hundred and six childrenfrom 3rd to 5th grades completed a calculation task assessing arithmetic fluency in addition, subtraction,and multiplication. In line with PISA results, children presented difficulties in all arithmetic operationsinvestigated. Children performed better in addition than subtraction and multiplication, and 3rd and 4thgraders were outperformed by 5th graders in all three operations. However, even after five years offormal schooling, less than half of 5th graders performed perfectly on simple addition, subtraction, andmultiplication problems. Therefore, these data substantiate the argument that the sole use of apsychometric criterion might not be sensible to diagnose dyscalculia in the context of a generally lowperforming population, such as Brazilian primary school children. When the majority of children failthe task, it is hard to distinguish atypical from typical numerical development. As such, other diagnosticapproaches, such as Response to Intervention, might be more suitable in such a context.

First-language raters’ opinions when validating word recordings for a newly developed speech reception threshold test

Background: The purpose of this study was to consider the value of adding first-language speaker ratings to the process of validating word recordings for use in a new speech reception threshold (SRT) test in audiology. Previous studies had identified 28 word recordings as being suitable for use in a new SRT test. These word recordings had been shown to satisfy the linguistic criteria of familiarity, phonetic dissimilarity and tone, and the psychometric criterion of homogeneity of audibility. Objectives: The aim of the study was to consider the value of adding first-language speakers’ ratings when validating word recordings for a new SRT test. Method: A single observation, cross-sectional design was used to collect and analyse quantitative data in this study. Eleven first-language isiZulu speakers, purposively selected, were asked to rate each of the word recordings for pitch, clarity, naturalness, speech rate and quality on a 5-point Likert scale. The percent agreement and Friedman test were used for analysis. Results: More than 20% of these 11 participants rated the three-word recordings below ‘strongly agree’ in the category of pitch or tone, and one-word recording below ‘strongly agree’ in the categories of pitch or tone, clarity or articulation and naturalness or dialect. Conclusion: The first-language speaker ratings proved to be a valuable addition to the process of selecting word recordings for use in a new SRT test. In particular, these ratings identified potentially problematic word recordings in the new SRT test that had been missed by the previously and more commonly used linguistic and psychometric selection criteria.

Validation of the Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale Revision 4 (SQLS-R4) Among Patients with Schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: The main goal of psychiatric care is not to be focused only on reducing psychopathological symptoms, but on improvement of the patient's quality of life.AIM: To examine validation and reliability SQLS-R4 among patients with schizophrenia.METHODS: The sample consisted of 61 outpatients with schizophrenia attending the Psychiatry Hospital “Skopje”. Inclusion criteria for subject selection were: 1) age more than 18 years, 2) clinically stable (not acutely ill or has not been recently hospitalized at least for the past 3 months). They completed SQLS-R4 and SF36 questioners.RESULTS: The internal consistency reliability was satisfactory for both the psychosocial and vitality domains (Cronbach’s α = 0.928, 0.83). Most of the items were significantly correlated with own scale score (from 0.189 to 0.687). The average of the score for the psychosocial quality life was 39.9 ± 8.6 (sometimes), for the cognition and vitality was 26.5 ± 6.1 (sometimes) (SQLS-R4). There was moderate correlation between SF 36-energy with SQOLS - motivation and energy; SF 36-mental health correlation with SQOLS-psychosocial.CONCLUSION: SQLS-R4 appears to offer excellent potential as an easily administered and patient acceptable assessment and monitoring measure of quality of life (QoL). However, a principle psychometric criterion crucial to the use and validity of the instrument concerns the underlying factor structure.