Running head: Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 1

Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom

Ritika Gupta

Arizona State University

Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 2

Abstract

Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability that affects nearly 20% of the human population,

making it the most common learning disability. We have all the tools to help a child out with

dyslexia, yet there is lacking in tools to diagnose these students. Teachers tend to be front line for

initial diagnosis of learning disabilities. However, they are restricted by law and their education

to diagnose dyslexia. With the lack of information on dyslexia, many misdiagnose students with

dyslexia as having reading disabilities. Other teachers, if they recognize the student having

dyslexia, are unable to tell the parents clearly that the student has dyslexia, because of the school

rules. These students receive the wrong help to fix their learning disability. This also makes it

more difficult on the students because they still do not know how to work with their disability to

navigate through our education system--a system which is mostly based around reading and

writing.

Keywords: dyslexia, diagnosing students

Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 3

Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom

Section 1, Question Bank

Dyslexia is the most common learning disability. However, the diagnosing methods for

dyslexia are still in the developmental phase. For the last seven months, I have been working on

research to create a screening questionnaire for children ages 4-6 that will help diagnose more

kids with dyslexia. While I was developing the questionnaire, several questions about the impact

of dyslexia in students came into my mind. Because our education system is based around

reading and writing, it is not a proper learning for children with dyslexia. And that is why I am

researching the impact of dyslexia in an educational classroom on dyslexic children.

Central Research Question

- What is the impact of dyslexia in a classroom?
General Inquiry/Observation Questions
- How do dyslexic children act in a classroom setting?
General Interview Questions
Teachers/Students:
- When you hear dyslexia, what does that word mean to you?
- How have learned to cope with dyslexia?
Interview Questions for Specific People
- What actions have you taken when you saw signs of dyslexia in a child?
- How was has your education for teaching impacted the way you teach students with
dyslexia?
- As the head of the tutoring center, how do you specialize the teaching for each student?
Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 4

Section 2, Sites of Inquiry

In this section you will list the specific places, people, objects, activities, and events

important to your research. Beyond merely listing the sites of your inquiry, you should note

specific locations, times and dates of events, contact information, etc.

Sites of Inquiry Contact / Location Dates / Times

Valley Academy Mrs. Trotter, Kindergarten Friday, October 6, 2017

K-8 charter school 1520 W. Rose Garden 2:50 p.m.
Phoenix, AZ 85027

Valley Academy Miss George, First Grade Friday, October 6, 2017

K-8 charter school 1520 W. Rose Garden 12 p.m.
Phoenix, AZ 85027

Learning Rx 565 West Chandler Boulevard, Monday, October 9, 2017

Dyslexia Tutoring Center Suite 116 12 p.m.
Chandler, AZ 85225

Learning Rx Student Monday, October 9, 2017

12 p.m.
Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 5

Section 3, Inquiring into Objects /Artifacts

An object I chose to discover its significance to the dyslexia community is the dyslexia

screening questionnaire. Though it has only been two months that it has been in testing, I found

this artifact significant in this community because it is one of the few preliminary testing that

exists to pre-diagnose for dyslexia. While inquiring about this object, I gave my interviewees a

copy of the questionnaire and asked them their opinions on it. A student that I observed at the

Learning Rx center said that he had wished that the questionnaire had been created earlier so that

he would have been able to get the help he needed earlier. Coming from a 13 years old mouth,

those words held serious gravity for him and I was hoping to touch many other families with

dyslexic children in a similar manner. The day before, I had gone to visit my old elementary

school. Dyslexia is best diagnosed at ages 5-7, during kindergarten to first grade--a time when

children are first reading. I talked to my kindergarten teachers and asked them about my dyslexia

screening questionnaire. Mrs. George broke down about how school regulations made it difficult

for her to say if a child had dyslexia or not. She has had several students over the course of her

32 years teaching; however, the only best thing she could do for them was to hint at their parents

to get their son/daughter checked. She continued saying, that if this questionnaire becomes an

accurate pre-diagnosis then she would whole-heartedly support it and hopefully work to get it

used at my old elementary school.

Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 6

Part 2, Principle Quotes or Observations with an explanation of value:

1. We, teachers, are restricted by the school rules to explicitly state that a child has

dyslexia. The school does not want to take liability and costs to help provide services for

that student.

a. These restrictions are causing difficulties for students to receive the help they

need, because the teachers are unable to explicitly tell the parents of the students

what they think the child may have.

2. In our teaching curriculum during our schooling, we are not informed about dyslexia.

a. The significance of this is that we need to push for a movement in which teachers

learn how to teach kids with learning disabilities as well.

3. She has had several students over the course of her 32 years teaching; however, the only

best thing she could do for them was to hint at their parents to get their son/daughter

checked.

a. The significance of this, is that some teachers are able to identify dyslexia but are

unable to say anything to the parents.

Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 7

Part 3, Reflect on the process, occurrences, and results of this research, including inferences
about the significance of your observations and interview responses. (~300 words):

I went back to my elementary school to gain a better understanding of dyslexia and

classroom setting of a kindergartener. A lot of memories from my first year in elementary school

flooded back, such as the weekly spelling tests, the weekly phonograms tests, and the basic math

worksheets. Our spelling lists would contain 20 words, we would be told to take home the list to

study it by Wednesday for the pretest and those who did not get a hundred would then re-test

Friday. A similar process happened with the phonograms and math facts. I thought this was

wonderful during my kindergarten year. For me, I would quickly memorize the weeks lists and

then take the pre-test. Most of the times I would score a 100, so on fridays while other re-tested

I would sit in the back of the room with others who scored perfectly to do an activity.

I was talking to a kindergartener at Learning Rx. I asked him what was the hardest part of

kindergarten. He replied Spalding. I asked him why; he stated, It is hard and confusing. I try my

very best to get the letters to spell the words but I always end up messing it up. Thats why I

come to Learning Rx.(Say an anonymous student said)And while this education system worked

for me, now looking back at it with my information on dyslexia, this would have been hard for a

child with dyslexia. It is the phonemes, letters, and numbers that dyslexic children have trouble

with the most. The way we were educated in that classroom, memorizing the words would be a

mesmerizing task. Kids with dyslexia tend to confuse their bs ,ps , and ds; If you look at the

letters themselves, the only difference between the letters is the orientation of the shape of the

letter, because the shape of all three are identical. So for example, the spelling word ball could be

dall or pall.
Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 8
Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 9

Section 4, Inquiring into Place

Learning Rx is a tutoring center that works with kids with any reading and learning

disabilities. I had worked in their office for two weeks in March to research on specifically the

ten students they have with dyslexia. This time, I went in on Monday to sit and observe how the

children were being tutored. They had only allowed me to sit through one childs tutoring

session. The child was in kindergarten, he had brought his weekly spelling list along and the

tutor would help him memorize the spellings. Children with dyslexia tend to be visual learners

because they use mostly their right-hemisphere to break down the language. The

right-hemisphere is specialized in visual aspects, while the left-break is specialized in the

mechanics of language and speech. To help the student, the tutor would pull up the picture of the

written word and doodle pictures for the word on the word itself. In that case, they were using

the word run. They doodled stick figures running across all the curves of the word. They

continued this process for the rest of his words. And throughout this process, the child was

having lots of fun in understanding what would otherwise be a daunting task.

Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 10

Part 2, Principle Quotes or Observations with an explanation of value:

4. I wish I was diagnosed earlier, so that I could have received the help I needed earlier.

a. The significance of this is that many children also get frustrated with the

schooling system and should receive the help that they need.

5. At the tutoring center, I observed that the tutors were using a visual way to describe the

topic to the children. The significance of this was because it is different from the way the

teachers explain things in the classroom.

6. The kids with dyslexia were enjoying and paying attention to what the tutor was

explaining. This is significant because the teachers and Dr. Khurana said the opposite of

the dyslexia students.

Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 11

Part 3, Reflect on the process, occurrences, and results of this research, including inferences
about the significance of your observations and interview responses. (~300 words):

I was fascinated by how such a small change in the way the tutor helped the student made

it easier for him to grasp a concept that was otherwise difficult. I thought about how we could

make these little tweaks in our education system to create one that would help both normal

students and students with dyslexia thrive. My two kindergarten teachers told me very similar

things about how they wished they had been trained to deal with such learning disabilities during

their teaching education. As we conversed more about dyslexia and I told them more facts about

dyslexia, they became appalled that maybe their teachings may have not benefitted the entirety

of their students. This made me think more about how a small informational discussion was able

to bring small changes in the way the teachers were thinking about how they would carry out

their curriculum from now onwards. That same impact we could make on a bigger group of

education professionals and help slowly change our education system to fit both the dyslexics

and normal students.

Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 12

Section 5, Inquiring into Activities/Events

When I visited Valley Academy, I also looked into the Special Education program that

they had for kids with disabilities. Most kids with disabilities are eligible for IEPs through the

school. At Valley Academy, there were thirty kids enrolled in the special education program, but

that included all students from kindergarten to eighth grade. This number should have been

greater. According to the national statistics, twenty percent of the nation is dyslexic. There were

about 800 kids enrolled in the entire school, and if the math is done, then the number should be

closer to 160 kids in the special education program. I also asked for statistics about what

disabilities were being attended to. Less than 1% of the statistics included dyslexia students.

Those statistics emphasize the idea of how dyslexia is the most undiagnosed/misdiagnosed

learning disability. At this point, I wanted to use my dyslexia screening questionnaire to test all

kids in the school.

Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 13

Part 2, Principle Quotes or Observations with an explanation of value:

7. IEPs are supposed to be helpful to the students with disabilities, but with the lack of

students receiving them, makes it a solution that is not being fully used

8. The parents and teachers are unaware of dyslexia and that shows in the statistics of the

disabilities that are being addressed in the special education program. This emphasizes

the point that awareness for dyslexia should be increased.

9. Dr. Khurana stated how IEPs are now becoming hard to get for children. This is

significant because all kids with disabilities should receive the help they need to be able

to achieve the best in their education.

Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 14

Part 3, Reflect on the process, occurrences, and results of this research, including inferences
about the significance of your observations and interview responses. (~300 words):

Dyslexia is one of the most undiagnosed/misdiagnosed learning disability. Most of the time

dyslexia gets treated as a reading disorder and are to tutored for reading. In this situation, the

student see no improvement over time and get frustrated. Another misdiagnosis of dyslexia is

that teachers assume that the student is just lazy and does not want to do the homework. This

demotivates the students and does not help aid them getting the help they need. This system is

hurting the children with dyslexia, because they are put aside while the educators continue to

motivate those who are already doing really well in the system. The difference between children

with dyslexia and normal children is that kids with dyslexia use their right-hemisphere to

process the information instead the left hemispheregenerally the side used to process language.

Using the right hemisphere, the words are processed as shapes making the English language

harder to read because some of the shapes of the alphabets are very similar. Based on what I

observed in the special education field at Valley Academy, I believe we need to used the

dyslexia screening questionnaire to screen all the children at all elementary schools. This way we

are able to help bring awareness to the children at a younger age. This will help bring up the

grades and motivation of these children because they will be receiving the tutoring that will give

them strategies on how to work with the educational system. Through the trial runs we have

already conducted with the screening questionnaire, we have already seen an increase in the

motivation and performance of the children who are now receiving the necessary help.
Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 15
Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 16

Section 6, Inquiring into People/Person

I interviewed several individuals for this paper. The main interview that stood out to me

was Dr. Khuranas. I have been working with her for the last eight months on a research project

on dyslexia. She is not only a co-researcher, but also a mother of a daughter who has dyslexia. I

asked her the question What role does dyslexia play in a classroom? The first thing she stated

was the schooling system is frustrating, the teachers are unable to explicitly say that a child has

dyslexia, and that is why my daughter was diagnosed late. She continued on saying that Anyas

handwriting got worse, and her teachers started complaining that her work ethic was declining.

Anya was no longer able to focus and was constantly daydreaming. She also stated that she had

wished that we had created this questionnaire earlier, because then she would have been able to

help out her daughter. Finally, then to answer my question, she said, In a classroom

environment, it is difficult for a child to achieve much if they have undiagnosed dyslexia.
Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 17

Part 2, Principle Quotes or Observations with an explanation of value:

10. the schooling system is frustrating, the teachers are unable to explicitly say that a child

has dyslexia, and that is why my daughter was diagnosed late.

a. The significance of this is that parents are also becoming concerned with the

restrictions on teachers. They want to be able to hear from a teacher if side-effects

of learning disabilities are observed. This way the child can get help as early as

they can.

11. In a classroom environment, it is difficult for a child to achieve much if they have

undiagnosed dyslexia.

a. The significance of this is the impact that the difficulty can have on a child with

dyslexia. They tend to be labeled with the word lazy or unmotivated. And they

dont have any aid to help them achieve the best.

12. The signs of dyslexia are easy to identify when you know what to look for.

a. This is significant because with education on dyslexia, teachers would be able to

identify kids and maybe even aid them to get the help they need.
Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 18

Part 3, Reflect on the process, occurrences, and results of this research, including inferences
about the significance of your observations and interview responses. (~300 words):

From the last interview with Dr. Khurana, I learned what it is like to have a child with

dyslexia go undiagnosed for six years of her education. She demonstrated her frustration with the

school and the teachers. She wished that the teachers would become educated in the different

learning disabilities. The way our education system is structured makes it hard for dyslexia

students to prosper in that learning environment. It is all based on reading and writing, usually a

difficult area for dyslexia students. When these students are placed in such classes, they lose

interest and start daydreaming to keep their minds occupied in something they understand.

Teachers dont have the education to help aid kids with dyslexia; however, they should take the

initiative to get all their students tested for dyslexia.

Dr. Khurana also believes that legislatures should be passed to require all kids to go to

their pediatricians or psychologists to get tested for dyslexia. This way we will be able to get all

the children diagnosed. This would benefit the schooling system very much, because most

students would then strive to their best because they are now able to. The kids with dyslexia are

now receiving assistance with the tutoring and now they will be able to concentrate in class.
Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 19

Section 7, WP3 Proposal

For my paper, I asked several people questions about what they feel about the education

system. To start off the interview, I would tell them statistics about dyslexia and how small, easy

fixes in our education system would help these kids strive and achieve their full potential. From

my interview, I learned that all educationalists are wanting to change the system and create a

learning environment that will benefit both the kids with dyslexia. They want to be able to

diagnose these kids because they are the bright future of our society. Most kids with dyslexia

have higher IQs than the normal kids, but because the education system is based on reading and

writing, they arent doing the best in their classes.

I asked some kids and teachers about how they felt about a dyslexia screening

questionnaire I had created. They were quite surprised by how easy the side-effects of dyslexia

are to spot. I then progressed to ask them if they would be willing to convince their schools to

carry out this testing on the children. All of the teachers said yes but with a disclaimer. They said

that with all the rules that bind them to silence with kids and their disabilities, it would be

difficult to convince the schooling district to adapt this into their program. This made me want

to explore more on what we can do to bring awareness to the education population. I want to see

its impact in a classroom.

Dyslexia affects more than 20% of adults and children. One in every 10 people is

dyslexic. In America, 40 million adults are dyslexic; out of which, only 2 million are aware. And

with the fact that if the adult has dyslexia, then there are 50:50 chances their child will have

dyslexia as well. There are two kinds of dyslexias: 1. Acquired Dyslexia and 2. Developmental

Dyslexia. In my research, I will be focusing on development dyslexia. Developmental Dyslexia

Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 20

refers to the reading difficulties that become apparent when children are learning to read. It is

usually an anomaly in the brain circuitry. This causes them to process what they hear differently

or have difficulties figuring out the pronunciation of a word even after breaking it down by

syllables. To explain this better, I am going to give you an example:

Read the following words:

sart nigong meb

Though these are not real words, I doubt that you had trouble pronouncing them. That is

because when we see an unfamiliar word, we use a process known as phonetic reading. We use

the sounds of the individual letters to figure out how to pronounce the words as a whole. Cool

isn't it? And when we see a familiar word, we use the whole-word reading process to pronounce

the word fully without having to sound it out letter-by-letter. You have been using that technique

to read this. But a person with dyslexia would have a hard time putting the sounds together to

figure out the word. In other words, their phonetic reading skills are handicapped (Gupta 1). For

my next project, I propose that I focus on the impact of this handicap in students in English class.
Impact of Dyslexia in a Classroom 21

References

[Supply bibliographic citations for any secondary sources consulted during your primary

research]

1. Gupta, R. (2017, February 01). SRP: Ritika's Project on Dyslexia. Retrieved October 15,

2017, from https://srpritikadyslexia.blogspot.com/