A novel test battery for Luxembourg to diagnose specific learning disorder in mathematics in third-grade children

The diagnostics of mathematics learning disorder encompasses a thorough assessment of children’s individual weaknesses and strengths in the area of numbers and arithmetic. As most diagnostic tools are language-based, test language proficiency is likely to influence test
performances. Moreover, results from the Luxembourgish school monitoring program ÉpStan highlighted achievement differences based on children’s language background. However, there are currently no diagnostic tests for learning disorders that consider such a linguistic
heterogeneity, challenging the diagnostic process in multilingual settings. Therefore, we have developed a mathematics test battery for third-grade children, tailored to Luxembourg’s multilingual education context. In total, we devised 18 paper-pencil tasks with contents adapted
to the national school curriculum, and used simple language for the test instructions. The test battery was validated (N=697) and normed for different language-background groups to provide a fairer diagnosis to linguistically diverse children. The poster will address the test structure
and language background-related results.