Research on the portrayal of child characters with dyslexia in picture books is limited, therefore in this thesis, I analyzed six children’s picture books published in English speaking countries including the United States, Canada, and Australia for their portrayal of dyslexia, the plot, the characterization of the child, and the child’s relationship with others. I read through the books multiple times and conducted a content analysis to identify patterns in the portrayal of images of dyslexia and the child characters over the period of 1995-2018. Through the analysis of images of dyslexia, it became apparent that dyslexia had a major impact on the story of the six books and was often described as a challenge. Furthermore, the character’s teachers were often the first to recognize the symptoms of dyslexia,and the characters commonly received treatment through their schools. When analyzing the plot, the themes of acceptance and pretending as well as the shift from happy endings to realistic endings became apparent. When the portrayal of the child characters were analyzed, their strengths were in areas outside of reading and writing, and their weaknesses were due to dyslexia. In addition, the characters’ negative self-concept and their lack of ethnic diversity became evident. Lastly, the analysis of the character’s relationships with others showed the supportive role of their parents and teachers, along with the shifting portrayal of bullying classmates to supportive friends. The analysis of this thesis revealed similar findings to previous research conducted on children’s books portraying children with dyslexia,as well as comparable findings to the research on the real experiences of children who have dyslexia.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-163905 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Shotola, Karalee |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Tema Barn |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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