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.Screening proceduresMost screening procedures for use with preschool children or children inthe early years of schooling apply an observation checklist approach thatrequires teachers (and sometimes parents) to report on important aspects ofchildren s development.These instruments focus on skills and behaviourssuch as speech and language development, gross- and fine-motor skills,visual and auditory perception, attention and memory that have beenfound in research to be predictive of success or failure in school.Sometimesscreening procedures also take into account a child s work samples fromkindergarten or school, and some require a child to complete certaintasks and activities that are then evaluated.Twaddle (2001, p.26) states: Screening is initial assessment to support teaching and learning, and toidentify areas of concern which could interfere with, or possibly restrict, achild s development and learning. EARL Y I DE NTI F I CAT I ON AND I NT E RVE NTI ON 29Screening for potential learning difficulties is not a new idea.Early andcurrent practices in identifi cation and intervention are summarised in acomprehensive text edited by Bradley et al.(2002).Many of these screen-ing and assessment systems are directed mainly toward predicting potentialreading difficulties, but a few are now targeting mathematics (e.g., Gerstenet al., 2005; Wright, 2003).The major focus has also been upon detect-ing specifi c learning disabilities rather than general learning problems;although screening in the early years can be used to reveal both.Work on early intervention in Australia began with Helga Rowe s(1981) monograph for teachers and school counsellors.More recent workhas included the High Risk Screening Survey (HRSS) (Sugai & Evans,1997).This instrument covers children in from pre-primary to Grade 7and requires a teacher to rate all children in a class in areas of academic,social and physical/sensory performance.The Australian KindergartenScreening Instrument (Twaddell, 2001) is designed for children in the 4.5to 6 years age range and covers gross- and fine-motor skills, language,pencil and paper work, reasoning and personal characteristics.In WesternAustralia, a project called Catch Them Before They Fall has explored thevalidity of screening for potential reading difficulties by assessing eachchild s phonological awareness and memory skills during the middle of thepre-primary year (Heath, 2005).Since 1995, schools in Queensland haveused the Year 2 Diagnostic Net to monitor the progress of students in lowerprimary school and to identify those needing assistance in literacy andnumeracy.Early identification of difficulties is also stressed in most of theaction plans for literacy and numeracy prepared by all state departments ofeducation (e.g., Government of South Australia, 2007).In the United Kingdom, early detection of learning problems andspecial educational needs has been stressed for some years.Advice on thisissue, for action by school-based special educational needs coordinators(SENCos), has been promulgated (Department for Education andSkills, 2002).Published instruments are also available from the NationalFoundation for Educational Research, such as the Early Years Easy Screen(EYES) (Clerehugh et al., 1991) and the Middle Infant Screening Test (MIST)(Hannavy, 1993).In the United States of America, most school districts have adoptedone or more forms of early screening, linked with early interventionmeasures for children identified as being at risk (e.g., Arkansas Department 30 L E ARNI NG DI F F I CUL T I E Sof Education, 2007; Zimmerman, 2007).Much of the research on earlyidentification has also taken place in the United States of America.Some of the areas of performance that are frequently included in obser-vation checklists and screening procedures include:×% language skills (speech, vocabulary, syntax)×% auditory and phonological skills×% fi ne-motor skills and hand eye coordination (as, for example, in pencil grasp,copying ability, use of scissors)×% attention and short-term memory (for example, the ability to repeat simplesentences accurately)×% writing one s own name×% comparing and matching words in print×% naming of letters and numbers.Teacher as observerIt has been acknowledged for many years that experienced early childhoodteachers are reasonably skilled in noting when young children are havinglearning problems.Indeed, in many ways they are at the cutting edge ofthe early identifi cation process.In addition to the specific cognitive andphysical skills mentioned above, preschool or first-grade teachers take intoaccount such things as a child s ability to maintain attention to task foradequate periods of time, work without close supervision, persist with atask despite frustrations, listen to and understand instructions, socialisewith peers, show interest in books and make serious efforts to learn.Thecontribution of these informal observations to the identification of at-riskchildren is as important as results from more formal testing or assessment(Flynn & Rahbar, 1998).Information from parentsParents can, of course, provide much important information that can helpteachers or psychologists diagnose learning diffi culties (Reddington &Wheeldon, 2002).Relevant aspects of a child s early development prior tobeginning school and his or her behaviour patterns outside school are oftenknown only to parents.There are risk factors such as very low birth weight, EARL Y I DE NTI F I CATI ON AND I NTE RVE NTI ON 31prematurity, diffi cult birth delivery, illnesses, accidents, anxieties andtraumas that are often correlated with later learning problems (Delgado etal., 2007).Developmental achievements, such as the age at which the childcould speak, walk and function independently, can also be very signifi-cant.Any information collected from parents supplements data obtainedin other ways.InterventionThe chief purpose of identifying children with learning difficulties at anearly stage is obviously in order to intervene and provide these childrenwith additional teaching and support.Early intervention should resultin fewer children moving into middle and upper primary school withcontinuing problems in literacy and numeracy.In the past, interventionhas usually been provided in the form of remedial teaching, with selectedstudents withdrawn in small groups for additional teaching
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