Validity and sensitivity · specificity of quick assessment of childhood reading & writing

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigated the validity and sensitivity · specificity of the Quick Assessment of Childhood Reading and Writing (QRW). The QRW has been developed to screen 5-year-old to 4th grade children's reading and writing ability. The QRW consists of three subtests: phonological awareness, reading and writing. Methods: Four hundred and twenty-six typically developing children participated in this study. For content validity, a 5-score-scale was used for each item and 10 speech-language pathologists served as assessors. Content validity and concurrent validity were analyzed for validity; and test-retest reliability, sensitivity and specificity were analyzed. Results: For content validity, the mean scores of subtests were 4.78, 4.71, and 4.79 respectively. For concurrent validity, the correlation coefficient between the results of the QRW and the subtests of KOLRA and KISE-BAAT was calculated. The results revealed significant correlation. Additionally, the scores of QRW were significantly different by age and grade. Finally, the test-retest reliability, sensitivity and specificity were significantly high. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that the QRW is a valid and reliable tool for assessing reading and writing skills of Korean children, and that it takes relatively short time and can be used as an efficient screening tool. © 2020 Korean Academy of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.