Assessment of preliteracy skills of children

Studies have shown that the warning signs for the development of learning difficulties can be observed in many children as early as in the preschool period. The learning difficulties therefore can be predicted, mitigated or even prevented by suitable corrective action. For the purpose of this thesis we used a questionnaire developed at the Faculty of Education. The questionnaire was used on a group of 106 children and it was divided into two parts: the first part surveyed the overall skills and abilities and the second part the child's strengthnesses. The kindergarten teachers evaluated 80 preschool children and the primary school teachers 26 children from the first grade of the primary school. The Chronbach Alpha coefficient has shown that the questionnaire is highly reliable. Our goal was to determine whether differences exist between the preschool and schoolchildren in preacademic fields. By using the descriptive statistics and t-tests we were able to confirm differences in several fields. The questionnaire can be good tool for discovering early signs of learning difficulties and the child’s strengthnesses. This enables the development and implementation of programs for the prevention or mitigation of learning difficulties