This study focused on developing and validating a phonological awareness scale to assess its effectiveness in diagnosing learning difficulties among a purposive sample of 60 third-grade students. To achieve this, the researchers employed their own phonological awareness scale alongside Zidan Sartawi’s 1995 diagnostic tool, adapted for the Yemeni context. The findings confirmed the scale’s strong validity—both apparent and internal—and high reliability, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.83. Moreover, the scale demonstrated diagnostic efficacy, evidenced by a 0.70 correlation with Sartawi’s instrument, affirming its suitability for identifying students with learning challenges.