Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Background & objective: Reading is one of the three essential skills in elementary school education. A number of students are unable to learn to read with regular school instruction. Reading difficulties are one of the most fundamental problems that children with specific learning disabilities face. Because a child who cannot read has very little chance of success in school and, in addition to educational problems, has numerous emotional, behavioral, and cognitive problems. Students with reading disabilities develop negative self-concepts due to repeated academic failures and negative feedback from teachers, parents, and peers, and suffer from poor general self-efficacy and academic self-efficacy. Other problems such as low self-esteem, parent-child relationship problems, and poor parental perceptions are also experienced by children with reading disabilities. Therefore, in order to prevent damage caused by dyslexia, timely diagnosis and intervention of individuals with dyslexia is essential. Reading assessment and early intervention in individuals with reading difficulties are educational and therapeutic priorities. One of the methods of reading assessment is the use of standardized tests. The present study was conducted to investigate the psychometric properties of a reading test in the period year of elementary school.
Methods: The present study was an applied test-making study. The statistical population was the first-period elementary school (first, second, third grades) students in Tehran in 1402-1403. The sample consisted of 700 students (600 normal students and 100 students with learning disabilities). The sample group was selected using random sampling from 8 districts of Tehran. Also, 100 students with reading disabilities who referred to psychological and counseling service centers were selected using convenience sampling and were tested. Content validity was assessed by the opinion of ten experts using the Content Validity Index (CVI). Construct validity was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis and comparison of means in transformative validity. Criterion validity was assessed using Pearson correlation with scores from the NEMA test and reliability using the Koder-Richardson coefficient and test-retest using SPSS and AMOS software.
Results: The content validity coefficient for the items was 0.9 to 1. The face validity of the instrument was assessed as satisfactory by the opinion of psychological experts. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model fit indices were satisfactory and approved (x2/df=2.84, RMSEA=0.07, CFI=0.93, GFI=0.93). The results of comparing the average scores of the reading test in three age groups (first, second, and third grade of elementary school) indicate a significant improvement in reading skills with increasing age and educational level. In general, in most subtests, the average scores of students in higher grades are higher than those in lower grades, and the differences are statistically significant (p<0.001). These results generally indicate that as the educational level increases, students acquire more advanced reading skills and the reading test has been able to reflect the developmental process of these skills well. This indicates the developmental construct validity of the test. In assessing the criterion validity, all correlation coefficients are significant at the 0.01 level, which indicates the high validity of this test. The Kuder-Richardson values ​​were calculated as 0.671 to 0.975. The test-retest correlation coefficient was also calculated as 0.807 to 0.981.
Conclusion: The research findings showed that the Jahesh Reading Test has sufficient validity and reliability to measure reading skills in first to third grade students and can be used as a tool to measure this skill in Persian-speaking students.