The purpose of this degree project is to address the issue of dyslexia in the language classroom. It explores how teachers understand, address and work with dyslexia in relation to assessment and examination. The research has been based on qualitative interviews conducted with three working teachers: two English teachers and one Swedish teacher who is specialized in special aid teaching. Along with a theoretical background regarding useful research, relevant terms and definitions used in the discussion concerning dyslexia, the research establishes that interviewed teachers understand what working with dyslexic learners entails. However, there is lack of insight into Skolverket (The National Agency for Education) and the actual recommended procedures when assessing and examining dyslexic learners. This research highlights the importance of giving educators the tools and strategies needed to support dyslexic students in the examination situation and how to fairly assess these students.Keywords: Dyslexia, assessment, examination, reading and writing difficulties.

Dyslexia is a clinical diagnosis often associated with phonological processing deficits. There are, however, other areas of concern, such as the presence of auditory temporal processing (ATP) disorders. One method of investigating ATP is the gap detection (GD) paradigm. This study investigated GD performance using the Gaps-in-Noise © (GIN) test in three groups of 30 children, aged 8 to 9 years. GD thresholds and gap identification scores (%) were determined for each participant. The three groups of participants included (Group I) children with dyslexia and phonological deficits, (Group II) children with dyslexia and no significant phonological deficits, and (Group III) normal reading peers. Repeated-measures ANOVA showed that GD thresholds for the three groups were significantly different. Group I showed longer GD thresholds (RE, 8.5 msec; LE, 8 msec), than did Group II (4.9 msec for both ears) or Group III (RE, 4.2 msec; LE, 4.3 msec). Close inspection of the threshold values for the three groups revealed that the thresholds for Group II overlapped substantially with those of Group III, but not with those of Group I. Similar trends were also noted for the gap identification analysis. From a clinical perspective, the majority of participants in Group II and all participants in Group III performed within normal limits on both measures (i.e., thresholds and identifications), while performance of participants in Group I fell below established norms on these measures. Finally, additional analyses revealed that ATP was highly correlated with phonological processing measures indicating a relationship between the presence of phonological deficits and ATP deficits. This study confirmed that ATP deficit is a factor to be considered in dyslexia and suggested that the GIN © test is a promising clinical tool that should be incorporated in the evaluation procedures for children with reading difficulties.

Based on Luria's notion of functional neuronal systems, reading has been hypothesized to require the adequate functioning of both the anterior and posterior cerebrum. Failure to be able to read has been hypothesized to be the result of dysfunction occurring anywhere throughout those functional units. In adults, anterior and posterior language problems have been established by assessing verbal fluency. Nonfluent output has been associated most often with anterior dysfunction, while fluent output has occurred with posterior dysfunction. The primary purpose of the present exploratory study was to evaluate the utility of verbal fluency as a dimension on which to classify children with the language problem of dyslexia. Subjects first were identified as dyslexic readers (DR) or normal readers (NR) based on a statistical formula which determined whether IQ and reading achievement scores were significantly discrepant. A traditional measure of verbal fluency then was used to determine that the DR children were less fluent than NR children. DR children subsequently were classified into nonfluent (NF) and fluent (F) subgroups. Initial validation for die fluency construct then was established by examining children's performance on other language and motor tasks associated with anterior and posterior functioning. As predicted, the DR-NF children performed more poorly or displayed specific deficits on tasks purported to tap anterior functioning (e.g. verbal memory, motor perseveration, and vigilance) while DR-F and NR children did not. A dual processing model was proposed to explain the findings for the DR-NF children. Limitations, implications for the treatment of DR children, and directions for future research are outlined / Ph. D.

The study focused on the occurrence of dyslexia among the convicted in the Czech Republic. On the ground of plentiful research results from various countries that refer to a connection between dyslexia and criminality, a research was conducted in Czech penitentiary environment (specifically the Horní Slavkov prison). The research sample comprised of 113 respondents aged 22 - 65 in the first round of data collection. All respondents met the research criteria: Czech citizenship, Czech nationality and Czech as a mother tongue. The data were collected via the Raven's standard progressive matrixes, personal questionnaire, interview, assessment battery including tests on specific learning disabilities among adolescents and adults and a rapid naming test. The research results have proven a several times higher occurrence of dyslexia among the sample population than in common population, which is 34 % dyslexic individuals in the sample. The research results are comparable to research results from abroad. On top of that, up to 84 % of the respondents spontaneously demonstrated dyslexic difficulties during the interview. Reading and writing skills in the sample are comparable to those in common population and intelligence is slightly higher than standard. The research hypothesis that there is a connection...

Will specificic failures of learning influence individual´s journey throught his life? In my work I deal with problems of living with dyslexia. How the specific learning difficulties will affect an individual's life. The main aim of my thesis is to examine how specific learning disability affects personal and educational development of the individual. The goals of my work are: to determine approach of the parents to the child with specific learning difficulties, approach of teachers at the primary school, high school or university. Recording of feelings from childhood to the present. Explore possibilities of applying on the job market, comparison with individuals who do not suffer from disorder. Find out how the specific learning difficulties affected individuals. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with the characteristics specific learning difficulties, their causes, manifestations of classification learning difficulties, dyslexia diagnostics, educational diagnosis, dyslexia, its symptoms in adulthood and reeducation of dyslexia. In the practical part I will examine how learning difficulties affect individual lives from the beginning of education to adulthood. The research sample will consist of adults with learning difficulties in anamneses and without anamneses. Basic methods will be questioning and interview. The practical part of my work is based on the theoretical part.

Abstract The purpose with this essay is to get an insight on how the school has changed over the past years in terms of reading- and writing difficulties/dyslexia. In the literature studies I mention reading- and writing difficulties and the reasons why some people get these problems. Further on in the literature study it is written about what the education act and the curriculum say about the school’s duties towards pupils in need of special support. The result contains interviews with one language pedagogue and one special pedagogue who work in two different municipalities. In addition I interviewed two former pupils who went to school 15-20 years ago. I came to the conclusion that today’s schools have changed to the better for the pupils with difficulties. During the 1990’s the problems around dyslexia was getting attention in the society. This made the school more aware about reading- and writing difficulties/dyslexia and gave them more knowledge about the difficulties. / Sammandrag Syftet med denna uppsats är att få en inblick i hur skolan har förändrats under de senare åren vad gällande elever med läs- och skrisvårigheter/dyslexi. I litteraturgenomgången tas läs- och skrivsvårigheter/dyslexi upp och vad det finns för bakomliggande orsaker till varför vissa personer får dessa svårigheter. Vidare står det om vad skollagen och läroplanen säger om skolans skyldigheter till att hjälpa elever i behov av särskilt stöd. Undersökningen som behandlades i resultatet omfattade intervjuer med en språkpedagog och en specialpedagog som är verksamma i två olika kommuner samt intervjuer med två före detta elever med dyslexi som gick i skolan för cirka 15-20 år sedan. Resultatet av undersökningen visade på att dagens skola har förändrats till det bättre för elever med dessa svårigheter. Under 1990-talet uppmärksammades dyslexiproblematiken i samhället vilket gjorde att skolan blev mer medveten och fick kunskap om läs- och skrivsvårigheter/dyslexi.

DEd (Curriculum Studies) / Department of Curriculum Studies / This study sought to evaluate the implementation of intervention programmes that enhance the inclusion of learners with dyslexia in mainstream primary schools of Bubi District, Zimbabwe. A mixed-methods research design was adopted. Questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data while semi-structured interviews and documentary evidence were used to collect qualitative data. All the 50 mainstream primary schools found in the district were included in the study. From these, simple random and purposive sampling procedures were adopted to select participants. Simple random sampling technique was used to choose 150 teachers, that is, 3 from each school. In this case, 50 were Grade 1 teachers, the other 50 taught Grade 3 classes and the last 50 were schools’ clinical language remedial teachers. Purposive sampling was used to select 10 heads of schools who had established special classes in their institutions. The same sampling technique was also used to select a District Remedial Tutor, District Early Childhood Development Trainer and District Schools Inspector. Quantitative data was analysed through the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 24. Qualitative data was analysed and interpreted thematically. The major findings of the study were that, lack of adequate policies, negative attitudes from some stakeholders, shortage of expert teachers and relevant material resources were some crucial factors that hampered effective implementation of intervention programmes for learners with dyslexia. The study recommends the development of dyslexia-friendly schools through designing relevant policies, holding dyslexia awareness campaigns both in schools and communities, training of more specialist teachers and the provision of learning resources that are more sensitive to the diverse needs of learners with dyslexia. / NRF

The study focuses on psychosocial aspects of prisoners with dyslexia in the Czech Republic. The target group is compared with respondents from noncriminal population with dyslexia, and respondents from prison and also noncriminal population without dyslexic difficulties. Research sample comprised of 200 respondents (50 respondents per each group) in the age range from 20 to 64 years. Data were collected via Raven's standard progressive matrices, assessment battery on specific learning disabilities, personal history questionnaire, self-efficacy scale and personality questionnaire (SPARO). The results show the following protective aspects in the development of children with dyslexia - higher educational level, better grades in school in subjects such as Foreign language, Mathemathics, Physics and Behavior, lower number of siblings, higher number of close persons and help from them, family cultural capital (level of education of mother and father), higher self-efficacy, a feeling of importance to others, greater level od satisfaction with their life, early diagnosis of hyperactivity and results of personality questionnaire SPARO (mean adjusting variability; and moderate frustration and target directionality). Some aspects were interpreted as neutral, and some factors show no inter-group difference....

RésuméL’objectif général de cette thèse était d’étudier les capacités d’empan visuo-attentionnel (VA) des lecteurs arabophones. Les recherches ont montré que l’empan VA module le traitement visuel des séquences de lettres et joue à ce titre un rôle important en lecture experte, tel que modélisé dans le cadre du modèle multitraces de lecture experte (Ans, Carbonnel et Valdois, 1998). Il a également été montré que l'empan VA joue un rôle dans l’acquisition de la lecture et qu’une réduction de l’empan VA explique certaines formes de dyslexies développementales. Néanmoins, les études menées jusqu’ici se sont limitées aux langues européennes. Il s’agissait donc d’évaluer la pertinence du concept d’empan VA dans une langue de structure très différente, comme l’arabe. Deux questions principales ont été abordées : la première (Etude 1) portait sur une éventuelle modulation des capacités d’empan VA selon la langue ; elle a été menée chez des lecteurs experts. La seconde (Etude 2) visait à évaluer l’implication de l’empan VA dans les troubles de l’apprentissage de la lecture. Dans l’étude 1, nous avons comparé les performances d’empan VA chez des adultes de langue française, espagnole et arabe. Nous montrons notamment que les capacités d’empan VA sont plus limitées chez les arabophones que chez les français ou les hispanophones. La taille de l’empan VA n’est pas modulée par la transparence de la langue mais pourrait varier selon les contraintes de traitement des mots (traitement parallèle pour le français et l’espagnol mais traitement privilégié de la racine morphologique pour l’arabe). L’étude 2 a porté sur des enfants arabophones de 4ème et 5ème année, bons et mauvais lecteurs, qui ont été soumis à des épreuves de lecture, de conscience phonologique et d’empan VA. Nous montrons que les capacités d’empan VA contribuent à expliquer les performances en lecture de mots et de texte, voyellé et non voyellé, indépendamment des capacités phonologiques des enfants. Comme dans les langues européennes, un sous-groupe d’enfants mauvais lecteurs présente un trouble isolé de l’empan VA. Par contre, la proportion d’enfants présentant un trouble de l’empan VA, isolé ou pas, est beaucoup plus importante que dans les études précédentes portant sur les langues européennes. Ces résultats devraient conduire à proposer de nouveaux outils de diagnostic et de remédiation des troubles d'apprentissage de la lecture chez les lecteurs arabophones. Ils ont également des implications potentielles sur les méthodes d’enseignement de la lecture en langue arabe. / AbstractThe aim of this doctoral research was to study the visual-attention (VA) span abilities of Arabic-readers. Previous studies showed that VA span modulates letter string visual processing and plays an important role in expert reading, as modeled in the multitrace memory model (Ans, Carbonnel and Valdois, 1998). The VA span was previously described as a key component of reading acquisition; a reduction in VA span was found to characterize a subgroup of children with developmental dyslexia. Longitudinal and training studies suggest this relation may be causal. However, all previous studies on VA span have been limited to the European languages. Our purpose in this doctoral research was to assess the relevance of the VA span in a language of very different structure, the Arabic language. Two main questions were addressed. In Study 1, we explored potential modulations of VA span skills depending on the language characteristics; this study was conducted on expert readers. Study 2 was designed to investigate the role of VA span in reading acquisition in Arabic children. In Study 1, we compared the VA span performance of skilled readers from three different languages (French, Spanish and Arabic). We show that VA span abilities are reduced in Arabic as compared to French or Spanish. Differences in the size of VA span do not relate to language transparency but may depend on orthographic processing constraints (parallel processing of the word letter string for French and Spanish but privileged processing of the morphological root for Arabic). Study 2 was carried out on Arabic-speaking children, good and poor readers, from 4th and 5th grade. They were administered tests of reading, phonological awareness and VA span. Results show that VA span abilities contribute to explain performance in word and text reading whatever the script (vowelized or not) regardless of the child phonological abilities. As in European languages, a subgroup of poor readers shows an isolated VA span disorder. However, the proportion of children with a VA span disorder (isolated or not) is much higher than in previous studies on European languages. The current findings should allow designing new diagnostic tools and remediation programs for Arabic children with learning disorders. They also have potential implications for the teaching methods of reading in Arabic.

<p>In this essay, I will look at three different Compulsory comprehensive schools in one community and I will compare final grades from students who graduated in spring 2006. I will also examine how the three schools work with students, and in what way they approach students with dyslexia/reading- and writing difficulties, so that they could reach goals set by The Swedish National Agency for Education. The aim with this essay is to show differences between schools in the same community and my question is if it is the way you approach students with dyslexia/reading- and writing difficulties that affects the student’s grades and results.</p><p>The study is concentrating on three schools in one community and students with dyslexia and reading- and writing difficulties that went to those schools. I have spoken to remedial teacher at each school about how they approach students with dyslexia/reading- and writing difficulties, what kind of methods the use, how they investigate if a student is in need of special help and how they grade their students who are in need of special teaching because of their learning disabilities. This essay will also present different ways of defining dyslexia and how to approach the pedagogic difficulties that will appear in situations where students with reading- and writing difficulties gets exposed and are in need of special education or help.</p><p>The results of this study can only be connected to those schools that have been studied for this exam. The results can not in any way be generalising for all schools in Sweden. However did the study results show that students that went to school 2 reached higher goals than students that went to school 1 or 3. The study also shows that these schools use different ways to work with students with dyslexia and reading- and writing difficulties. But to compare numbers and grades can’t give a fair picture of how each school work with each student so that they develop those skills and knowledge that is seen as necessary to become a democratic member of the society. Because numbers and grades cant tell anything about the student’s disabilities or what kind of knowledge or skills the student is in possession of. Nevertheless can this study when comparing grades, in the most general way, say that students that go to school 2 are more likely to reach goals that are set by The Swedish National Agency for Education.</p>