Prevalence of learning skills development disorders among primary schoolchildren in the city of perm

Objective. To study the prevalence of writing and reading skills disorders in children of the 2nd–3rd grades in comprehensive schools of Perm. Materials and methods. A continuous survey method of 160 parents was used in two schools – a comprehensive school and a school with advanced study of German. A screening test for dyslexia (Colorado Learning Disabilities Questionnaire – Reading Subscale: CLDQ-R) and a questionnaire for checking writing/hand­writing skills (Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire: HPSQ) were used. To study the features of visual perception and scotopic sensitivity syndrome (Scotopic Sensitiviti Syndrome – SSS), the Ian Jordan questionnaire modified by E. Kiseleva was used. Results. The results of the screening tests revealed a slow reading rate and numerous various errors in writing, which were combined with impaired graphomotor skills, difficulties in copying text from a standard, frequent corrections and cross outs in the text. Some children still had pronunciation problems and difficulties with naming letters, which indicated challenges with phoneme-to-grapheme conversion, and a disorder of sound-letter correspondence. The identified features necessitated additional assistance in the learning process for 10 % of schoolchildren in grades 2–3 of comprehensive schools in Perm, including the school with advanced study of German. In 3.8 % of children with deviant variants of educational skills development, features of visual perception were revealed. Conclusions. Perm schoolchildren demonstrated a high prevalence of writing (15.6 %), reading (7.5–9.0 %) and handwriting (9.4–10.6 %) development disorders.