Adobe Stock/Robert Kneschke
Every third school child in Germany exhibits clear difficulties in reading, spelling or arithmetic. For about half of these children, the difficulties are so severe and persistent that they are diagnosed with a learning disorder (reading, spelling or arithmetic disorder). The consequences for the children affected by this are serious. Their educational opportunities are poorer, and their participation in social and economic life is only possible to a limited extent. Therefore, early diagnosis of a learning disorder and individual, scientifically based support for the children concerned are imperative. To this end, 29 research projects and a coordination agency were funded from 2010 to 2021 as part of the research priority ‘Empirical educational research in evidence-based diagnosis and intervention for specific developmental disorders of scholastic skills’.
The current funding includes continuation of the project LONDI - ‘Learning disorder online platform for diagnosis & intervention’. The researchers involved in this have developed an online platform with scientifically validated information on reading, spelling and arithmetic disorders, as well as practice-relevant decision aids for individual diagnosis and remediation (intervention). The platform supports professional users, such as teachers and learning therapists, school psychologists and youth welfare workers, in clarifying the nature of the learning difficulties present and in deciding which support measures are best suited for the child concerned. For parents, there is an information system where they can find out all about learning difficulties, recognition, causes and treatment. Since 1 November 2021, the LONDI 2 project has been researching and evaluating the use of the platform. The aim is to use the insights gained to further develop the platform and increase accessibility.
More at: LONDI
