Development, Reliability, and Validity of the Preschool Learning Skills Scale: A Tool for Early Identification of Preschoolers at Risk of Learning Disorder in Mainland China

BACKGROUND: Early identification of children at risk of learning disorders (LD) may mitigate the adverse effects of delayed intervention by guiding children to receive preventive services at an earlier age. However, there is no assessment tool for the early identification of children at risk of LD in Mainland China. Therefore, this study aimed to create a Chinese version of the Preschool Learning Skills Scale and investigate its validity and reliability. METHODS: Firstly, a pilot scale was designed based on literature review and expert review. Secondly, a pre-survey of the pilot scale was conducted. In phase 3, a formal survey was carried out to test the reliability and validity of the scale by involving 2,677 preschool children from 7 kindergartens. Data were collected using a checklist for demographic characteristics, the preschool learning skills scale, the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version (BRIEF-P), and Conners' Rating Scales. RESULTS: The final scale included 38 items under seven factors. The reliability and validity tests confirmed that the Cronbach's alpha, split-half reliability, and test–retest reliability coefficients of the scale were 0.946, 0.888, and 0.941, respectively. The Spearman correlations of factor-total score ranged from 0.685 to 0.876. The results of criterion-related validity showed a direct and significant association between the preschool learning skills scale with the BRIEF-P (r = 0.641, P < 0.001) and the cognitive problems factor of Conners' Rating Scales (r = 0.564, P < 0.001). The model had a good fit (χ((2))/df = 3.489, RMSEA = 0.047, RMR = 0.024, CFI = 0.912, TLI = 0.900, and IFI = 0.912). Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis supported the structural and measurement invariance on the preschool learning skills scale across gender and grade. CONCLUSIONS: The developed preschool learning skills scale has good reliability and validity, indicating that the scale can be used to identify preschool children at risk of LD and can be recommended for use in clinical research and practice.