Early identification of difficulties in learning to read
screening; reading difficulties; risk identification; dyslexia; reading disorders.
Objective: To map and analyze available screening instruments to identify risks of reading difficulties and disorders in preschool and school-aged children in clinical and educational contexts (article 1) and to investigate initial evidence of validity of the Brazilian version of the SPRouT instrument for screening reading difficulties in preschool and school-aged children. Method: Scoping review conducted according to the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The search was carried out in the SciELO, PubMed, LILACS and Web of Science databases, including studies on the construction, validation and practical application of the instruments (article 1). The second study, which included a pilot validation, descriptive and analytical stage, was carried out in a private school in Brazil with children between 4 and 8 years old, including participants with and without oral and written language complaints (article 2) Results: Twenty-one studies were analyzed, identifying 15 screening instruments, of which 6 were aimed at preschoolers, 7 at school-aged children and 2 for both groups. The review identified gaps in the psychometric validation and accessibility of the instruments, with 47.6% of the studies being paid access, which limits their use (article 1), while article 2 is still in the process of data analysis. Conclusion: Although there are several instruments for screening reading difficulties, important challenges such as accessibility and psychometric validity limit their application in different contexts (article 1). We do not yet have conclusions for our second study.