Initial examination for school attendance in Mannheim:: Language development at initial school entry level

Introduction: In autumn 2001 the initial examination for school attendance in Mannheim has been fundamentally reorganised. The individual examination elements had been widely standardized, the results can be evaluated by regions and a diagnosis for the early detection of legasthenia has been developed. Methods: The testing involved repeating sentences, numbers and artificial words. This has been developed by the Pedagogical University Heidelberg. in pre-examinations in Heidelberg the results relate significantly to the subsequent results in reading and writing. Probands: A total of 2,744 children (46.1% girls, 53.9% boys) aged of 5 to 7 years was seen. 71.5% of the children were German nationality. Most non-German nationalities were Turkish (15.4%) and Italian (3.6%) children. Besides the nationality the mother tongue has been also recorded. More than 96% of the children had been attending a kindergarten. For judgement of the social strata the frequency of social welfare receivers has been recorded. Results: The testing results are significantly influenced by the native language and the social strata of the children. The results of children with German as native language are above those of non-Germans. Within the migrant children there are significant differences between the several nationalities. Children from a lower social strata achieved lower results. A positive effect to the language development is attributed to the attendance of a kindergarten. Conclusion: These results are the basis for language- and general health supporting projects in Mannheim. For the examination for school attendance in the current year the diagnostic for language development has been extended by some more aspects.