Dyslexia and Its Impact on Personality - Research Proposal Example

and Section # of Research “To understand the various issues that are faced by people prior to dyslexia and their impact on the personality, realizing the coping skills that may be required by children prior to being diagnosed with dyslexia” Introduction: Dyslexia is an issue that is around 17 percent of the population in the world. It is an issue that can be of three types, either that it can be auditory, or there can a visual dyslexic issue or the third kind is attentional. In either of the cases, the diagnosed person has various deficiencies that hamper the progress at school level. The issue of Dyslexia has been recognized to be as significant, as small children who are not able express their feelings completely go through issues at school and in front of their friends. They may have a varying IQ and hence they may be really good in school are otherwise. However, they require special attention from their teachers and care-takers; they may need help in areas other normal children may not. The Irish community and the government have been kind and proactive enough to understand this situation and include the training of school teachers and representatives regarding dealing with children or people suffering from this issue. However, there needs to be an effort from the child as well. Being denied from a capability would require certain coping skills from the children so that they are able to live with self-esteem in their society. However, struggling with dyslexia and its related issues before being diagnosed can have sufficient impact on the personality of the children, which may be visible with time to come. This research aims to understand the issues that children may face before being diagnosed and the necessary coping skills that they needed at that time. Research Aims: The research aims to develop an understanding regarding the issues that children might face when they are suffering from dyslexia. An example of an issue that they might face is that of low self-esteem and confidence in front of their peers. In case of visual dyslexia, they might not be as good in academics as their peers are and hence create self-esteem issues. At such a young age, certain coping skills that are needed to manage the situation and emerge out as a winner. The research aims to identify such coping skills that may be required in children to successful manage tough situations before being diagnosed with dyslexia. Identification of Objectives/Rationale of the Research: General Objective: The general objective of this research is to outline the issues that dyslexic children may face prior to diagnosis and understand the various kinds of coping skills that may be required in people with dyslexia prior to their diagnosis. Specific Research Objectives: To understand the issues through which children may suffer from before being diagnosed with dyslexia. To realize the skills that they may require to cope with various situations before diagnosis of being dyslexic. To realize the relative importance of some skills over others, in such situations. Research Question: A number of research questions can be formulated for this research. What is the size of people who are currently suffering from dyslexia in Ireland? What is the number of people who are currently suffering from such an issue? Do they get proper attention from their teachers and parents after diagnosis? Do they get proper attention from their teachers and parents before diagnosis? What are the coping skills that are required in people before they are diagnosed with dyslexia? What are the major areas in which they face issues in everyday life situations? Can proper attention towards students help in the diagnosis of dyslexia in children? Is there any way the coping skills can be introduced in the children so that they have no issues in everyday life? Literature Review: In the early stages of life, reading and writing are two important aspects of a child’s academics and learning that ensure success in years to come. The very first step is learning to read, which is then followed by reading to learn. Therefore, the building blocks of success are reading and writing. An alarming number of children, however, are being reported to having reading skills below their grade level, alternatively having high levels of IQ. This is one of the biggest symptoms of dyslexia. Before the significance of dyslexia and its impact on children was realized, teachers thought students were not serious while working and accused them of not paying attention (MedicineNet, 2010). Memory issues are significant is some children. All these coupled together can really lower the self-esteem of a child, who can see his/her peers excelling at basic skills while he/she can’t. This is a picture of the situation a dyslexic child may face; being exposed to such issues can introduce various behavioral and emotional difficulties in children. Efforts should be made at the classroom level as well as the house level to help early age learning difficulty; coupled with encouragement and not with ridicule. This is a benchmark which should be established for all the children, irrespective of dyslexic problems (Tony D’Anna, 2009). Before diagnosis, children who are suffering from dyslexia are seen to be struggling in the classroom, are low on self esteem, feel withdrawn from school life; there are signs of depression seen in some of the children too. They may also appear to lose their interest in school activities owing to their low performance in class rooms (Angela, 1994). Coping and managing through these times is important for the child and one cannot do that without the help of parents and other guardians. There has been lack of research material in this area; ample information is present on what the parents and guardians should do, however, little information is available on the managing skills that children need to introduce in themselves to cope with the issue (Christopher, 2006). Theoretical Perspectives: In the case of dyslexia, a lot of perspectives may be applicable. In a situation where there is a memory loss of central processing dysfunction, there may exist no discrepancy between aptitude and achievement as the child may score lower on IQ tests. In such a case, aptitude-achievement discrepancy may be lower; in other situations, this discrepancy may be higher. However, intracognitive discrepancy involves a dysfunction that may hamper visual processing , or short term memory and such children may be easier to be identified as the prime candidates for having learning difficulties (Christopher, 2006). Hypotheses: I. A positive attitude (Coping Skill) is bound to decrease the negative emotional effects of suffering from dyslexia. II. A positive attitude from the parents/guardians/teachers will decrease the negative impact of lower self-esteem in children. III. Attitude makeover is more important than any other coping skill when suffering from dyslexia prior to diagnosis. Hypothesis is a tool that is used to make statistical decisions regarding the data that is needed to be extracted. Two tailed test will be used in this case, as the responses from the respondents will be over a continuum and may include negative answers as well as positive answers. A significance level of 5% would be used in order to increase the efficiency of the data and reduce the error. Research Techniques/ Research Methodologies: A wide range of qualitative and quantitative techniques can be employed to gather the research data. Qualitative techniques are open ended questions that cannot be skimmed into a number and involve in-depth unstructured interviewing. On the other hand, quantitative research involves experimental and structured interviews and surveys (Alan 2007). Therefore, for the purpose of this research, we will be using qualitative research techniques as well as qualitative research methods to ensure maximum depth of the research and increase its applicability. 1. Secondary data collection would be done through the research that would be collected. The literature review will help us in understanding the previous research that has already been done and understand which areas will require our further research so that we are able to decrease the gaps that are present in the literature. 2. A focus group discussion will be held at the beginning of the research to gain some knowledge about the opportunity. This particular focus group discussion will be a qualitative peer led approach. Focus groups will be conducted to gather in-depth analysis from the people who are already suffering from the problem, their issues when they weren’t diagnosed with the problem and also those who were related to the people who were suffering from the problem. This will increase the scope of the research again, as people from both the ends, the receiving and the giving end will be questioned regarding their experiences and the variables that they underline will be further used to complete the research. 3. Interviews will be the third step in our research through which we will be question a certain number of people who will either be suffering from the issue or will be close relatives of the patients. The major schools of Ireland’s country Cork will be surveyed. The responses will be calculated, statistically analyzed and a proper conclusion will be reach accordingly. Time period of the study: The first phase of the assignment involves conducting secondary research and developing a literature review. A competent literature review should take about 1 month of effort. The next phase of the research will involve conducting focus groups through which the people who have either suffered from dyslexia or are relatives of children suffering from dyslexia will be included. This will provide firsthand knowledge regarding their issues and help in the developing of questionnaires; time limit should be 1 to 2 weeks. The third step is conducting county-wide interviews at the local school level. These interviews will be structured and covering approximately twenty local schools. This phase should require another 1.5 months of time. The data which will be acquired through the interviews will then have to be structured and compiled in the form of report, with the major findings and conclusion provided in such a way that it can be used as literature for others to gain from. This last phase should require another month of hard work, making the whole research a matter of 4.8 to 5 months. Target population: The target population in this case would be the people who are currently suffering from dyslexia and the people who have been closely related to people suffering from dyslexia. This should be done so that we can get a firsthand knowledge regarding the issue and understand the issues in depth. For the survey, the schools of the Irish country Cork will be targeted. Ethical Considerations: In terms of information gathering, the interviewees will be informed regarding the basic outline of this research and why they are being interviewed. The names and profiles of the people will be kept in a complete secret so as to ensure their personal safety and wants. While interviewing children, the presence of a guardian or a parent, which ever notified by the parent shall be present. Proposed Report Structure: 1 Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Acknowledgement 4 Introduction to the topic 5 Research Questions 6 Literature Review 7 Hypotheses 8 Research Methodology 9 Hypothesis Testing 10 Analysis of Result 11 Conclusion 12 Appendix BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Bryman, A., Bell, E. (2007) Business Research Methods. Oxford University Press 2. Fawcett, A., Nicolson, R. (1994) Dyslexia in Children: multidisciplinary perspectives. Harvester Wheatsheaf 3. Hayes. C. (2006) Dyslexia in Children; New research. Nova Publishers 4. Snowling, M. (2000). Dyslexia. Wiley-Blackwell 5. Hernandez, T. (2009) the Behavorial and Emotional Impact of Dyslexia. Available from http://childrenwithlearningdifficulties.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_behavioral_and_emotional_impact_of_dyslexia [2 May 2010] 6. MedicineNet.com (2010). Dyslexoia. Available from http://www.medicinenet.com/dyslexia/page5.htm [30 April 2010] Read More