Experience of Students with Dyslexia - Case Study Example

Dyslexia Introduction The term dyslexia in a broad perspective refers to the difficulty in words and is widely used loosely to all types of primary, secondary, and even environmental reading retardations. It is a chronic problem with reading and a common problem in learning that largely affects a great percentage of those identified as disabled in learning. In my opinion the term should be reserved for central difficulties in the capability to interpret symbols or words. Dyslexia is a learning disability that normally affects individual’s ability to write, read, and memory and language skills. A victim of dyslexia develops incomprehension of both spoken and written work together with characteristic speech disturbances due to incorrect or distorted words. He also develops an inability to write correctly. Dyslexia can occur at any level of intellectual ability and sometimes children with this disorder appear to their parents and teachers to lack motivation or not to be trying hard enough (Miles 1983, 107). Dyslexia can be attributed to lack of motivation, problems in emotions and behavior as well as sensory impairment (Lawrence 2009, 123). This case study is focused upon and examines the experiences of a student with dyslexia in higher institution where an insight into his life and experiences is evaluated. The participant of this study was an undergraduate student studying for a degree in Higher Education and was assessed as dyslexic. Interviews were used in data collection, as it would be very difficult to describe experiences and feelings with numbers. The words of the participant were used to support the categories and findings of the study (Reid 2009, 78). The case study was focused on the life experiences of a student with dyslexia in higher education institution. It is a project that was started when no much publication on the experiences of students with dyslexia had been done in higher institutions. There existed a limited literature review that provided information about the voices and the experiences of dyslexia victims in higher institutions and this case study aims at deeply exploring the experiences of a student diagnosed of dyslexia and giving the individual an opportunity to freely share the life experiences (Lawrence 2009, 200). Individuals may experience various levels of difficulties depending on the severity of the condition and these in most cases affect every single aspect in their lives. Issues arise on how they cope when they decide to go to university which is totally a new environment especially for those who decide to study at a place so far from their homes (Warrington & Shallice1980, 76)). They no longer have the necessary support mechanisms from their relatives and friends. Student’s family dependence decreases when they join learning institutions while personal dependence increases. Although, the personal independence for students with dyslexia is a bit involving as they try to cope in a new environment where course workload is much, they are subject to deadlines; they are making new friends, and are Managing their own finance without support from family members. They are challenged in both their intellectual and social lives (Phillips, Kelly, & Symes 2013, 92). Developing research questions This case study was conducted in a manner to answer the following questions. What are the experiences of students with dyslexia currently? What kind of help do school and teachers contribute? Do you think dyslexia can be cured? What effects does dyslexia have on individual’s daily life? Are there any benefits to having dyslexia?  What are the prime fallacies concerning dyslexia and its victims? If we have a friend or family member with dyslexia, how can we help? What advice should be given to someone whos been recently diagnosed with dyslexia? Methodology and Ethics Qualitative Research Making a decision on which research method to pursue is one of the toughest tasks in conducting a research. Knowing that the participant of this case study was a student with dyslexia and the questions I asked involved moments of their daily personal lives translated to lengthy and quit descriptive answers (Punch 2009, 83). Data which is gathered with qualitative paradigm is the most descriptive of all times. When we are talking about personal experiences, it is difficult to present them with numbers and we cannot limit the responses of individuals to a scale (Yin 2003, 102). As a qualitative researcher, I prefer to use the words of the participant and use a thick description to describe the results and avoiding the use of present series of statistical tables and analysis. Data is analyzed as closely as possible to the form in which it was recorded or transcribed. Using qualitative research, I’m able to build my theory and depending on the finding, I may differentiate my original question and form it relative to the direction the study takes. With grounded theory, generalizations emerge out of data themselves and not prior to data collection. Researchers who adopt quantitative research methods usually specify the variables they are about to investigate before even beginning the study (Punch 2009, 103). I did not present any variables before embarking on the study. There were some explicit areas that I had to study but most of the categories and the conclusions I drew from the data I collected after gathering the information that I needed prior to the research. The major body of evidence on the social and emotional affiliates of dyslexia is derived from the personal accounts and life stories of individuals. Ethics in the Research Research studies should give a great importance to the ethical issues that may arise from the process of collecting data by respecting the subject that take part in the study by trying to protect their right to privacy and keeping their identity secret from the public eye (Hulme & Snowling 2009, 75). I tried to protect the participant of the study by promising him to try and protect his confidentiality. I appreciation to the participant in the case study by spending time after the interview and thanked him for his dedication in the engagement, reassured him he had done it perfectly, , and he was quiet helpful and what he said has given quite important information in the research study. Before embarking on the interview, I emphasized the fact that the name of the participant will not be revealed in the written form of the thesis. The participant gave consent and was happy to contribute to the research. One of the questions that the participant asked me was whether I was dyslexic myself. However, they didn’t get annoyed or disappointed by the fact that I wasn’t but in contrast, they took it as a positive projection rather than a negative one in conducting a research on dyslexia given the fact that I wasn’t a dyslexia victim (Phillips, Kelly, & Symes, 2013, 129). I believe that this present study did not offend any of the participants and respected their privacy and uniqueness. Validity I conducted the interview in the house of the participant where he felt the highest degree of comfort. During the interview I tried to keep the conversation as friendly as I could without jeopardizing the integrity of the study to yield the highest degree of validity. Reliability In an attempt to make this case study reliable, I strived to ensure that all the interview questions were formed as clearly as they could be and at the same time keeping the same sequence of questions in every scenario. I avoided leading questions as I did not want to direct the answers of the participant. The primarily purpose of this study was to examine and understand the attitudes and experiences of the participant, but not rather confirming any knowledge that I had already acquired from reading literature about dyslexia. I tried to respect the feelings and attitudes of the participant during the interview as well as being as objective as possible (Punch 2009, 231). Findings A comprehensive interview was done with a 29 year old individual born in London who has had many types of jobs to venture into but lacked confidence but finally he hopes will combine his fun staff with that of work. He was in the process of retraining to be a fashion designer. In Most cases, people tend not to share their dyslexic status, mainly in a workplace. This individual in terms of his own symptoms he struggled a lot with reading. He had to push himself to reading and it was a subject to disruption and distraction. He rarely read books. Words often seem to merge or just move on a page and it was a hard work for him has he had a poor short-term memory. He had difficulties in reciting and decoding very simple letters and words read for him. His grammar and spelling were extremely poor, and he could spend a very long time drafting and checking. He misses out words and chunks of sentences without knowing; even when he reads it 10 times he can’t notice the words are missing. Often very simple multiplication was very challenging to him. He has a balancing issue, which could have a connection to dyslexia and anyone can have it as it is not specific to a group or social class (Lawrence 2009, 289). He was tested when he was 10 in 1991. It was quite uncommon that it was picked up at such a young age and even being tested was unusual back then. Knowledge and understanding back in 90s were still limited to both the general public and the education establishment at large. He owed a lot to his very progressive teacher at the time who suggested the tests. She had noticed all his writing made no sense and was frequently just a jumble of words. He was tested at a special education establishment by the local authority. He still remembers the building and what the room looked like. He was confirmed dyslexic after a written report was made but he doesn’t really remember being told that he was dyslexic, but a general feeling of annoyance is an overriding memory. He remembers that the report put my age in the core skills as that of 5 year old that annoys him (Reid 2009, 127). This individual never got any assistance from school but his mum decided to take him to a personal tutor instead. This was a great decision by his parent and he was lucky she could afford it. The tutor was called Stephen and was dyslexic too - and a teacher. He went to see him for four years and he made a huge difference in his education. He re-taught him the basics and how to use his brain in a different way. He really wondered where he might be if he hadn’t had such an experience and not sure whether he could have got into university. He was re-tested when he was 20 at university and statemented - which means his disability is registered and recognized by the government. This allowed him to extra time in his exams and was a huge help. A few people made comments like “Why should you get that extra help and not me” He thinks that dyslexia is incurable but he could be interested in others thoughts on this idea. For so long now, he has learned to work in a different way than most people (Hulme &Snowling 2009,193). He has created his own unique coping techniques to deal with the very day to issues he has. They are his ‘normal’ and of course they don’t seem strange to him. Thinking about it, he is not too keen about using the word cured in relation to dyslexia.  In a work context, he is very conscious of his written communications to other colleagues. So he spends a lot of his daily work time checking. He doesn’t have to ask people to often repeat things over the phone especially when they are spelling names or numbers. This can be a little embarrassing and he can get self-conscious about it, especially when callers are irritated by it. He has learned to create silly banter about my sluggish attitude towards things; it helps to conceal the real issues he has when interacting with the public, which lots of dyslexics do (Phillips, Kelly, & Symes 2013, 190). Recommendations and conclusion It is hard to categorize dyslexia as it varies from one individual to another. The participant of this study welcomed the label of dyslexia as an explanation to his problems. He noticed a big difference between the days he was in school and was impressed by the boost parent once he was diagnosed and received in school. There are moments when these victims feel frustrated and they have to double their pace of working to match that of their peers and dyslexia makes them creative and makes their brain work differently and visualize things in a different way from how the other people can (Overy 2003, 89) . They see and accept dyslexia for the positive things it offers them y perceiving it more as a gift rather than a disability (Reid 2009, 218). There are lots of great things that are associated with having dyslexia. This individual thinks his creative ability comes from being dyslexic. This can be of help in daily life and also be a real skill in big businesses especially those which require one to strategize and solve critical problems (Ziegler et al 2005, 132). Many very successful entrepreneurs from researches are dyslexics and it can make somebody more empathic towards people who also struggle in their respective areas of their life. There is a misconception that you are stupid if you are dyslexic where and people have developed this prejudice levelled at them. This man is always saddened when he hears of people who never end up going for their dreams because of the ‘stupid’ tag levelled at them (Lawrence 2009,.320). Giving relatives and friends lots of support and patience and helping them find groups that will offer a good advice and support on whatever level they need it will assist victims of dyslexia. Some channels in the UK offer support along with governmental support. Victims of dyslexia should not be treated differently from the others. People who have recently been diagnosed with dyslexia should not panic because they are big in the club. In case they need help, it can be availed by education from various local colleges which run these kinds of courses. Talking to someone you can trust at work in confidence about support they might offer is also important. Some people react to queries on dyslexia in a strange way to it. References Lawrence, D. (2009) Understanding Dyslexia. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Reid, G. (2009) Dyslexia: A Practitioner’s Handbook. 4th edn. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Bird, R. (2013) The Dyscalculia Toolkit. London: Sage. Brookes, G. (2011) Dyspraxia. 2nd edn. London: Continuum. Dixon, G. & Addy, M. L. (2004) Making Inclusion Work for Children with Dyspraxia. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Elliott, J. G. & Grigorenko, E. L. (2014) The Dyslexia Debate. New York: Cambridge University Press Hulme, C. and Snowling, M. (2009) Developmental Disorders of Language Learning and Cognition. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Kelly, K. and Phillips, S. (2011) Teaching Literacy to Learners with Dyslexia. London: Sage. Pavey, B. Meehan, M. and Davis S. (2013) The Dyslexia-Friendly Teacher’s Toolkit. London: Sage. Phillips, S., Kelly, K. and Symes, L. (2013) Assessment of Learners with Dyslexic-Type Difficulties. London: Sage. Punch, K. F. (2009) Introduction to Research Methods in Education. London: Sage. Reid, G. (ed.) (2009) Routledge Companion to Dyslexia. Abingdon: Routledge. Reid, G. (2012) Dyslexia and inclusion: classroom approaches for assessment, teaching and learning. 2nd edn. Abingdon: Routledge. Rose, J. (2009) Identifying and Teaching Children and Young People with Dyslexia and literacy Difficulties. Available from: https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/_arc_SOP/Page7/DCSF-00659-2009 Yin, R. (2003) 5th Edition. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. London: Sage. Warrington, E. K., & Shallice, T. I. M. (1980). Word-form dyslexia. Brain: a journal of neurology, 103(1), 99-112. Miles, T. R. (1983). Dyslexia: The pattern of difficulties (Vol. 2). London: Granada. Overy, K., Nicolson, R. I., Fawcett, A. J., & Clarke, E. F. (2003). Dyslexia and music: measuring musical timing skills. Dyslexia, 9(1), 18-36. Ziegler, Johannes C., and Usha Goswami. "Reading acquisition, developmental dyslexia, and skilled reading across languages: a psycholinguistic grain size theory." Psychological bulletin 131, no. 1 (2005): 3. . Read More