The study is designed to capture teacher knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards the teaching and learning of children with dyslexia/ learning difficulties within the Greek context. It provides insights into understanding about teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion, which can shape professional identity. The umbrella research question is: how can teachers’ experiences of, and beliefs and attitudes about, children with learning difficulties/dyslexia influence teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion, in the context of Greek mainstream primary school? The meaning of dyslexia is viewed from the point of view of mainstream and special primary school teachers’, which is in turn informed by the Greek government’s revised definitions. In practice in Greece ‘dyslexia’ is used as an umbrella term for learning difficulties. Despite the seeming contradiction, it is not uncommon for children with mild learning difficulties to be categorised as having dyslexia. The focus of this thesis is then on the teachers’ beliefs about teaching children with some kind of learning difficulty, who they would consider as dyslexic. Recent education policies encourage a search for pedagogical methods and teaching techniques, to respond to the diversity of the needs within mainstream classrooms. However, although the Greek government has introduced inclusion, many teachers believe that they do not have the skills or resources to manage the situation. Multiple case study methodology is used and the unit of analysis is the individual teacher. This allows engagement with teachers’ beliefs about inclusion of children with dyslexia within the Greek context. Analysis was within the set of data connected with the individual teacher in order to show the existence of their beliefs and later themes were identified across the cases. The sample consists of 20 Greek primary teachers: 17 mainstream teachers and 3 special school teachers. It is purposive, not representing the wider population, for it is deliberately selected to capture a diversity of beliefs informed by known factors, according to international literature (age, teaching experience, severity of case etc). This provides evidence for the existence of identified beliefs rather than the inference of the prevalence of certain beliefs amongst the population. A number of research instruments have been used: interviews with concept maps, observations, narratives and review of documentation. Progressive focusing on the research question during initial analysis led to the identification of two of these cases for more in-depth study, including sustained classroom observation. These are referred to as the “in-depth cases”.Thematic analysis reveals themes of beliefs and attitudes, encoding problems that participants are trying to resolve or to make sense of, and how certain beliefs about the inclusion of children with learning difficulties are mediated by deeply rooted cultural models of disability, compassion and learning. The diversity is illustrated amongst participants with a small number of examples. The study situates the individual accounts in the wider socio-cultural and political context. Prevalent teacher attitudes combine high performance- as historically established in Greece-transmission teaching and disability as limiting, a lack in some way. On the other hand, alternative inclusive practices come mainly from teachers who had received specific related professional development, which included opportunity for critical reflection on their teaching practices. These cases demonstrate the diversity of certain beliefs that influence attitudes, and give a pointer to how one might tackle change.

The purpose of this study is to give an increased knowledge of how students with dyslexia experience the counselling they received in regard to further studies and future work in connection to the transition from compulsory education to upper secondary school. As well as what is perceived as the most optimum process of counselling given from the needs of the student. Furthermore, there was an interest for a greater understanding of how student counselling work with dyslexic students and what knowledge the student counsellors have about this hidden disability. Qualitative interviews were done, both with students with dyslexia as well as student counsellors working for the years of compulsorily education. The interviews showed that students had not received what to them was an adequate and optimum guidance in regard to their needs. Much like the research found in connection to dyslexia the students note that their own self-esteem and self-worth in regard to the schoolwork lessens along the way. Something that is found to be reassuring is that the student counsellors interviewed say that there are no limitations for dyslexic students when it comes to choose of studies as long as they get proper support and adaptation after their needs. / Studiens syfte är att få en ökad kunskap om hur elever med dyslexi upplever den studie- och yrkesvägledning de fick i samband med övergången mellan grundskola och gymnasium. Och vad de anser är den optimala vägledningsprocessen utifrån deras behov. Vidare var en ökad kunskap om hur studie och yrkesvägledare arbetar med elever med dyslexi och vilken kunskap vägledarna har om denna dolda funktionsnedsättning av intresse. Kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes med både elever som har dyslexi och Studie- och yrkesvägledare på grundskolan. Intervjuerna visade på att eleverna inte har erhållit för dem adekvat och optimal vägledning utifrån deras behov. Precis som i den forskning vi fann rörande dyslexi så påpekar eleverna att självkänslan och självförtroendet rörande skolarbete får sig många törnar efter vägen. Det som känns uppmuntrande är att vägledarna vi intervjuade säger att det finns ingen begränsning för dyslektiker i val av program om de får rätt stöttning och anpassningar utifrån deras behov.

Clients with specific deficits in communication, memory, processing of information, or attention, may have difficulties with the counselling process. This study was been designed to explore the experiences of individuals with these specific deficits in counselling, and thereby increase awareness of the existence and effect of possible barriers or supports in the counselling process. The methodology used was Interpretive Description, developed by Sally Thorne (Sally Thorne, Kirkham, & O'Flynn-Magee, 2004). Ten individuals with particular learning disabilities (one or more of the above deficits) who have experienced counselling were interviewed. Up to four interviews were conducted with each participant; one screening interview, an initial interview, an optional interview including a significant other, and a member check at the end of the study. The researcher recorded a field and research journal during data collection. For the initial and optional interviews the researcher gathered transcripts, and then immersed himself in the data, in order to find themes about the participants’ experiences of counselling. The participants confirmed themes for accuracy and completeness. Finally, four participants contributed a short paragraph at the end of the thesis, nine participants contributed drawings that represented their counselling experience, and five participants created poses representing their relationship with their therapist. These alternate forms of data were used as further evidence in the study. The data gathered demonstrated that participants believed that they needed a more flexible approach to therapy which depended on having a safe relationship with a therapist that was sensitive to their needs. Although certain kinds of counselling processes were preferred by certain participants, the participants’ particular cognitive deficits were not the determining factors of what kinds of help the participants wanted in therapy. Rather, the participants were more interested in the creation of a counselling process based on a collaborative approach between them and their therapist, dependant on the participant’s knowledge about his or her needs and the therapist’s experience in counselling and with learning disabilities. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Orientador: Maria Irma Hadler Coudry / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-18T14:48:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonio_GiovanaDragoneRosseto_M.pdf: 25623579 bytes, checksum: 9f9d0525db03c5082327dc36d7287434 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Diante de um contexto de patologização excessiva, em que há um grande número de patologias e diagnósticos relacionados a questões escolares, sobretudo referentes ao processo de aquisição e uso da leitura e escrita, este trabalho busca discutir, com base na Neurolinguística Discursiva, a forma como tais diagnósticos têm sido feitos e as consequências que trazem para a vida das crianças. Apesar de serem muitas as "doenças" que surgem para justificar o fracasso escolar ou o comportamento inadequado de algumas crianças, este trabalho se aterá à discussão sobre a dislexia. Nosso objetivo, portanto, é discutir o estatuto de doença que é atribuído à dislexia, analisando, para isso, o discurso autorizado proferido sobre ela (sobretudo o da Associação Brasileira de Dislexia - ABD) e a concepção de linguagem na qual este discurso se baseia, que funciona como um dispositivo capaz de controlar os sujeitos, de acordo com Agamben (2004). Além disso, comparamos as propostas de material e atividades da Associação Brasileira de Dislexia com o trabalho realizado no Centro de Convivência de Linguagens (CCazinho/IEL/Unicamp) / Abstract: In the face of a background of excessive labelling in which there are a great number of diseases and diagnostics related to school problems, mostly concerning the processes of reading and writing acquisition, this masters dissertation discusses, based on the Discoursive Neurolinguistics, how these diagnostics are being given and the consequences that they bring to children's lives. In spite of the many "diseases" that are emerging to justify school problems and failures or to justify an inappropriate behavior from some children, this text will focus on the debates on dyslexia. Therefore, our goal is to discuss how dyslexia came up as a disease, analyzing for that matter the authorized discourse on it (mostly from the Associação Brasileira de Dislexia - ABD) and the conception of language in which this discourse is based on that work as an apparatus capable of controlling the subject, according to Agamben (2004). Besides, we compare the activities and material from the Associação Brasileira de Dislexia with the work done at the Centro de Convivência de Linguagens (CCazinho/IEL/Unicamp) / Mestrado / Linguistica / Mestre em Linguística

The overall aim of the present study is to develop knowledge of Swedish students’ writing in English, and how teaching of a specific kind of writing can be designed and enacted. The study focuses on what the students need to discern in order to develop a more differentiated knowledge of how to adapt a message to an unknown receiver—in this case a message for a person at a hotel. The research question addressed is how aspects of text and receiver can be varied and explored by teachers and students jointly in order to expand the students’ capability to adapt a text to an unknown receiver. The study is based on transcribed lesson data from a learning study, which is a research approach where teachers and researchers work together in an iterative process to understand and improve teaching and learning of a specific object of learning. The research question was explored in five cycles with five different groups. Thirty-four Swedish students, 14–16 years of age, from a special school for students with dyslexia and neuropsychiatric disorders, participated in the study. The theoretical framework of the study was variation theory. A basic assumption of variation theory is that, in order to develop a certain piece of knowledge, it is critical to discern some particular aspects of that knowledge. To enable the discernment of such aspects, they must be made discernible by means of variation. The results show that a short message, used as an example, needs to be deconstructed into its aspects. Once the students had discerned the concept of the receiver, they started to contrast ways to express the same content for known and unknown receivers. With the help of the concept of the receiver, the students explored the aspects amount of information, politeness, and formality together with the teachers. Each aspect needed to be focused on separately but within the framing whole of the specific context, that is, writing a message to a hotel. The findings also show that certain aspects on the macro-level were possible to discern when two texts were compared, whereas other aspects on the micro-level, such as modal verbs, had to be varied against the background of an invariant clause in order for the students to discern them.

This study contributes to existing research on the perspectives of teachers’ with regards to the use of the iPad for learners with dyslexia. The purpose of this case study was to explore and describe teachers' perspectives on iPad usage for learners with dyslexia in the Intermediate Phase. The primary research question that guided this study was: “What are teachers’ perspectives on iPad usage for learners with dyslexia?” A qualitative research design was used to collect rich data using Intermediate Phase teachers. Eleven teachers from three schools in Johannesburg participated in the study. The data collection tools that were used included focus group discussions, semi-structured interviews and observations. By exploring how these teachers perceived iPad usage, specifically for learners with dyslexia, this study contributed to an existing body of knowledge providing insight into the use of iPads in the classroom and as a learning support tool. The themes that emerged from this study answer the question of what teachers’ perspectives on iPad usage for learners with dyslexia are. Findings indicate that teachers’ perceive the iPad as a useful support tool but that it comes with many challenges that need to be addressed. The findings indicate that the iPad creates interactive learning and increases the confidence of learners with dyslexia. It is recommended that research be conducted with a larger sample size and also for challenges to be addressed so that the iPad can be utilised to its full potential. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

CISÁRIKOVÁ, Karolína. 2017.Working with users/readers with specific learning disabilities in library with emphasis on dyslexia: methodology of work in cooperation with Prague DYS- center. Prague, 128 p. Diploma thesis. Charles University. Faculty of Arts: Department of Information Studies and Librarianship. Supervisor: PhDr. Hana Landová, Ph.D. The diploma thesis surveys the work of libraries with users diagnosed with dyslexia and in the conclusion delivers not only result analysis but methodological recommendations to strengthen and develop such cooperation as well. The focus of the work is to deliver a compact outline of the information connected with the specific learning disorder and to analyze the way libraries and people diagnosed with dyslexia cooperate in the Czech Republic. The work can be divided into two parts - theoretical and empirical. The theoretical part deals with general information about dyslexia with the focus on its origin, diagnosis and ways of reeducation. It also involves an overview of Czech and foreign experts involved in such area of work and an overview of organizations representing rights of dyslexia diagnosed people on local and international level. The theoretical part also includes examples from foreign experience. The empirical part is dealing with the research in...

This dissertation discusses the effects of dyslexia on reading behavior and cognition. It does so by first outlining the overall incidence of dyslexia, providing current definitions, giving a history of scientific inquiry and discussing relevant contemporary research. Thirteen different analyses are then discussed (ten a priori and three post-hoc). Individuals with dyslexia were found to have increased fixation duration, first run dwell time, total dwell time, and refixation probability. The dyslexia group was also highly sensitive to lexical predictability. Within the reading network, the BOLD response was depressed in dyslexia during reading in the following regions: the left medial and inferior temporal gyrus, the left temporal pole, the right cerebellum, right occipital gyrus and the right parahippocampal gyrus. A second regions of interest analysis in the reading network revealed dyslexia was associated with a depressed BOLD response to lexical predictability in the following regions: left supplementary motor area, posterior middle frontal gyrus, and the left temporal pole. A regions of interest analysis in the oculomotor network revealed a depressed BOLD response in the following regions during reading: the left parietal eye fields and the cerebellum. One oculomotor region had a depressed BOLD response to lexical predictability due to dyslexia: the left frontal eye fields. This sensitivity to lexical predictability and depression in the BOLD response is suggestive of reduced input into higher cortical areas. Future study should be focused on finding the common origin of this bottom-up deficit.

Children with speech delay (SD) have underlying deficits in speech perception that may be related to reading skill. Children with SD and children with dyslexia have previously shown deficits for distinct perceptual characteristics, including segmental acoustic structure and global acoustic structure. In this study, 35 children (ages 7-9 years) with SD, SD + dyslexia, and/or typically developing were presented with a vocoded speech recognition task to investigate their perception of global acoustic speech structure. Findings revealed no differences in vocoded speech recognition between groups, regardless of SD or dyslexia status. These findings suggest that in children with SD, co-occurring dyslexia does not appear to influence speech perception of global acoustic structure. We discuss these findings in the context of previous research literature and also discuss limitations of the current study and future directions for follow-up investigations.

Children with speech delay (SD) have underlying deficits in speech perception that may be related to reading skill. Children with SD and children with dyslexia have previously shown deficits for distinct perceptual characteristics, including segmental acoustic structure and global acoustic structure. In this study, 35 children (ages 7-9 years) with SD, SD + dyslexia, and/or typically developing were presented with a vocoded speech recognition task to investigate their perception of global acoustic speech structure. Findings revealed no differences in vocoded speech recognition between groups, regardless of SD or dyslexia status. These findings suggest that in children with SD, co-occurring dyslexia does not appear to influence speech perception of global acoustic structure. We discuss these findings in the context of previous research literature and also discuss limitations of the current study and future directions for follow-up investigations.