Specific Learning Disorder in Mathematics in a Multilingual Education Context: Towards a More Tailored Diagnosis

Language is an important factor when assessing math skills and when diagnosing specific learning disorder in mathematics. This is challenging in linguistically heterogeneous contexts (e.g., Luxembourg) as one needs to differentiate if problems arise from low language skills or result from an underlying learning disorder. As diagnostic tools generally do not consider linguistic heterogeneity, we have developed a test battery for third-grade children, tailored to a multilingual education context. Following diagnostic guidelines and neurocognitive models of number processing, we devised a series of tasks with reduced language load in the instructions and within the items. To evaluate how language background affects performances, we compared results of the pilot study (N = 116) with scores of the same children in the Luxembourgish school monitoring program. A significant interaction between test and language profile showed that performance differences based on children’s linguistic backgrounds were less pronounced in the test battery than in the monitoring tasks. This provides first evidence that the new tool is suitable for a multilingual context. The poster will address the test framework and language profile-related results.