"The test will benefit around 120,000 children with the problems across the country, as those children can be provided with the types of education suited to them," Professor Anont Bunyarattavej, secretary-general of the project's financial sponsor, the National Research Council of Thailand, said yesterday.

The KUS-SI test will be used to identify and categorise children aged 6-13, or those in elementary school, with learning disabilities, autism or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and then to place them in special classes.

Asst Professor Charnwit Phornnopphadol, a Siriraj doctor who co-manages the project, said KUS-SI was an experimental version and may contain some flaws when fully put to use. However, it performed well on 57 children during a trial.

KUS-SI2 and KUS-SI3 might be issued while KUS-SI was in use, he said.

"The KUS-SI test is Thailand's first and most comprehensive placement test for the job so far," he said.

Teachers and parents who use the test were urged to be careful not to "label" the special children.

A handbook issued by the Basic Education Commission, which has been designated to authorise the use of the test, warns that special children must not be punished physically and left alone, especially near windows.

The problem now was the shortage of personnel to deal with the special children and to act as counsellors for the test project.

The country has only 77 child psychiatrists, and 55 of them are in Bangkok. "The worrying ratio is near a million people to one doctor," he added.

Assoc Prof Daranee Uthairattanakij, a co-manager from Kasetsart, said the 10-page test was designed to correctly identify and categorise children with the problems.

Teachers and staff could assist the psychiatrists after they received proper training, she added.