CHILDREN WITH DYSLEXIA:

A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF

THE PARENTAL

PERSPECTIVE

Paul Deacon

MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY

Low Self-Esteem (Glazzard, 2010)

v

Poor Academic Self-Concept

(Burden, 2008)

THE STUDY AIM

How do parents respond to a child with

dyslexic traits, prior to, and after,

diagnosis?

… And, what impact does this have on

children?

PARENTAL

INFLUENCE

MOTIVATES, OR IS

ASSOCIATED WITH,

HIGH ACHIEVING

CHILDREN.

Abelard, Hoffines, &

Mills, 1996.

HOW DO PARENTS

RESPOND TO A

CHILD WITH

DYSLEXIA WHO

CONSISTENTLY

STRUGGLES

ACADEMICALLY?

The Child and Families Bill (Government, 2014).

PARTICIPANT SAMPLE AND

INTERVIEW ORDER

Mother, 42 (Son, 14): S.E.N.CO. One other son with no dyslexic traits.

Mother, 37 (Son, 13): Working. Two other children with no dyslexic traits.

Father, 48 (Son, 15): Engineer. No other children.

Father, 45 (Son, 15): Salesman. One other child with no dyslexic traits.

Mother, 39 (Daughter,13): Sales. Other daughter with no dyslexic traits.

Mother, 33 (Daughter, 14): Retail. Other son with no dyslexic traits.

GROUNDED THEORY

Don’t be afraid of Subjectivism!

Be flexible in the interview process.

Broad Sample to select from (N.E.L.D.A. and Schools).

Primary and secondary coding to add discipline to discourse analysis.

Charmaz, 2006.

FREQUENCY OF CITED COGNITIONS IN TEXT

ANXIETY AND FRUSTRATION 42%

SOCIAL COMPARISONS 34%

EXPECTATIONS 14%

NEGATIVE EMOTIONS 6%

GUILT/REGRET 6%

WHAT IS DRIVING

PARENTAL

THOUGHTS?

Primary school support and testing

Achievement comparisons of peers

and siblings

Childhood memories or experiences

Lack of child motivation and

progression

Teacher feedback

Transcript 6: p 3. 168-170

“I don’t want to be, not normal, and make him

out as that; there has been a bit of embarrassment about it between us and the

school. So it’s here they come again. Well, it’s

the embarrassment”.

WHAT IS HAPPENING PRE-DIAGNOSIS?

Transcript 4: p 2. 51-53

“Well I’d be mortified with spellings seeing her working, and her brother not working, getting them all right. She’d practice, practice, practice, practice. Then come home, and say, she had done really

well; but she had only got them half right”.

Transcript 5: p 1. 54-56

“You know with his work he would have the ability, but we would look at it and I would say, can you not see that pattern forming or can you not see what it is saying, can you not see that. So it was, come

on, your not trying”.

Transcript 6: p 3. 25-26

“Her friend said that she never finishes her work. I wasn’t pleased with her so, I thought, I’d go into school to see her teacher. I thought my child should be thriving because she is intelligent”.

PRE-DIAGNOSIS

Transcript 2: p 2. 58-59

“But she was frustrated, she was

banging her arm, she was crying,

she wouldn’t do her homework”.

Transcript 2: p 3. 95-96

“I was having panic attacks, I was

losing sleep over it; anxious for six

months before she went to be

assessed at the school”.

PRE-DIAGNOSIS: SOCIAL

COMPARISONS AND

EXPECTATIONS PROMOTING

ANXIETY

Transcript 4: p 3. 32-33

“She was always on the lower tables and I thought,

why? When we are doing what we are doing. She is

not a daft kid you know. She is very intelligent”.

Transcript 6: p 3. 133

“I don’t see it as a problem for him himself, I just see

that when you are away from the norm; its just that bit

harder then”.

Transcript 2: p 4. 103-104

“Things changed, overnight”.

POST DIAGNOSIS

Transcript 5: p 3. 164“No more, what is wrong with me? Yeah, instead of him thinking he

is thick, or, us thinking that he is thick”.

Transcript 4: p 4. 119“Well, you know, this is a good thing, it’s not her fault”.

Transcript 1: p 3. 115“To be honest it was a bit of a relief”.

A CHILD’S RESPONSE TO THEIR ACADEMIC SELF-CONCEPT

AND THE INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES

Parental Cognitive response to child’s

academic ability

Parental Behaviour

Child cognitive response to

Parental Behaviour

Child develops Academic self

concept

Child response to Academic self

concept

FINDINGS

Parental anxiety is most likely driven by

expectations and social comparisons.

These factors are causing behaviours

which can affect the Academic Self-

Concept of children with Dyslexia, to a

much greater degree, than for children

who do not have dyslexic traits.

APPLICATIONS

Development of a tool to measure the Academic Self-Concept for children.

Awareness training for parents (Burden, 2008).

Transparency of educational results.

Teacher training.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

NORTH EAST LANCASHIRE DYSLEXIA

ASSOCIATION

FRANCIS MERCER

QUEEN ELIZEBETH’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL S.E.N

DEPARTMENT

ST. WILFRED’S HIGH SCHOOL S.E.N. DEPARTMENT

ST. AUGUSTINE’S S.E.N. DEPARTMENT