2022/07/27 by Alexia Casale
#Dyslexia #computer-based test #higher education.
paper · doi:10.5526/esj147
This article discusses the challenges involved in developing a computer-based dyslexia screening test for widespread HE usage. These challenges are illustrated through preliminary results from pilot-testing a prototype instrument designed to fill the gap in provision. A number of promising avenues, which mainly relate to two key issues (complexity and processing/reading speed), are outlined in this exploratory research; however, as with all exploratory studies, far larger sample sizes would be required in order to assess reliability and generalisability of findings. First, complex tasks, tapping multiple deficits (thereby circumventing dyslexic students’ coping strategies), tend to be more sensitive than tasks which involve a single area of deficit. One of the reasons that existing tests for use with HE students do not seem to hold up under scrutiny (see Casale 2009) may be that the tasks involved tap only a single area of deficit when they tap multiple cognitive domains at all. Second, data analysis indicates that time taken to complete cognitive tasks (i.e. processing-speed), rather than accuracy, is a more effective measure for identifying dyslexic HE students. These findings have far-reaching implications for the types of ‘reasonable adjustments’ that the Disability Discrimination Act requires that dyslexic students be afforded in order to allow them to study and perform without disadvantage compared to non-dyslexics. However, this deficit is not significant merely in relation to extra time in exams: it potentially has much more serious implications in relation to dyslexic students’ ability to cope with the volume of reading, turn-over of essays and other work at university.