Parenting a child with special needs: Dyslexia
Scott, M. E., Scherman, A., & Phillips, H. (1992). Helping individuals with dyslexia succeed in adulthood: Emerging keys for effective parenting, education, and development of positive self concept. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 19, 197-204.
This article gives the details of a study of successful adult dyslexics. It asked them why they were successful when most disabled people do not succeed in school or in employment. The article focused on why these subjects were able to lead productive lives. What influenced their ability to cope with their frustrations in learning; what strategies they are able to use to overcome their difficulties. Dyslexia is defined for this article to be a type of learning disability that makes it difficult for the individual to understand written and spoken words or numbers (Scott, Scherman, & Phillips, 1992, p. 197). Individuals with dyslexia often have difficulties in understanding information in social situations as well. This can affect their relationships with friends and family members (Scott, Scherman, & Phillips, 1992, p. 197-8).
Students with dyslexia are often in the bottom quarter of their class at graduation and are not always eligible for admission into colleges and universities (Scott, Scherman, & Phillips, 1992, p. 198). This failure to succeed in school and in relationships, even though individuals with dyslexia have normal or above normal intelligence, can cause low self-esteem and emotional problems. For these reasons it is important to find a method of helping children and adults learn to learn and cope with this learning disability. Finding the cause of dyslexia is also important, but unless a medical treatment is found, a method of teaching students with dyslexia is needed. By analyzing the successful students and adults, it was hoped that some common methods of helping people with dyslexia would be found. ...