Department of Pediatrics, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital, Puducherry, 605107, India.
Indian J Pediatr. 2020 Feb;87(2):94-98. doi: 10.1007/s12098-019-03130-z. Epub 2019 Dec 21.
To study the proportion of children of age 5 to 7 y at risk of specific learning disability (SLD) and to analyse the socio-demographic risk factors.
A school based cross-sectional study was conducted in six schools in Puducherry. Four hundred eighty students were enrolled and study was conducted in a triphasic approach. Phase I- Screening by teachers using SLD-SQ (Specific Leaning Disability - Screening Questionnaire); Phase II- Vision, hearing, and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) assessment were done in students screened positive with SLD-SQ and those with vision or hearing impairment and subnormal intelligence were excluded; Phase III- Remaining children were subjected to NIMHANS SLD index (Level I profile).
Of the 480 enrolled students 109 were screened positive with SLD-SQ. Twelve students were excluded in Phase II. Remaining 97 evaluated were evaluated with NIMHANS SLD index and 36 (7.5%) were screened positive. Boys (9.6%) were significantly more affected than girls (4.9%). Similarly, risk was significantly higher in students of government schools (12.1%) than private schools (2.2%). Ignoring punctuation and capitals was the commonest problem in SLD-SQ whereas, dysgraphia was most common in NIMHANS index.
The present study shows though SLD is highly prevalent and remains undiagnosed due to lack of awareness among teachers and parents. Since early intervention leads to better outcomes, Universal screening should be made mandatory and remedial teaching centres made available, accessible and economical.
研究 5 至 7 岁儿童患特定学习障碍（SLD）的比例，并分析社会人口学危险因素。
在本地 6 所学校进行了一项基于学校的横断面研究。共招募了 480 名学生，并采用三阶段方法进行研究。第 I 阶段-教师使用 SLD-SQ（特定学习障碍-筛查问卷）进行筛查；第 II 阶段-对 SLD-SQ 筛查阳性的学生进行视力、听力和智商（IQ）评估，并排除有视力或听力障碍和智力低下的学生；第 III 阶段-剩余学生接受 NIMHANS SLD 指数（一级特征）评估。
在 480 名入学的学生中，有 109 名学生被 SLD-SQ 筛查阳性。第 II 阶段有 12 名学生被排除。剩余的 97 名学生接受了 NIMHANS SLD 指数评估，其中 36 名（7.5%）筛查阳性。男生（9.6%）的患病风险明显高于女生（4.9%）。同样，政府学校（12.1%）的风险明显高于私立学校（2.2%）。在 SLD-SQ 中，最常见的问题是忽略标点符号和大小写，而在 NIMHANS 指数中，最常见的问题是书写障碍。
本研究表明，由于教师和家长缺乏意识，尽管 SLD 患病率很高，但仍未得到诊断。由于早期干预会带来更好的结果，因此应强制进行普遍筛查，并提供可及且经济实惠的补救教学中心。
