Presented at the 2014 Psychology Student Conference.

1. CHILDREN WITH DYSLEXIA:
A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF
THE PARENTAL
PERSPECTIVE
Paul Deacon

2. MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY
Low Self-Esteem (Glazzard, 2010)
v
Poor Academic Self-Concept
(Burden, 2008)

3. THE STUDY AIM
How do parents respond to a child with
dyslexic traits, prior to, and after,
diagnosis?
… And, what impact does this have on
children?

4. PARENTAL
INFLUENCE
MOTIVATES, OR IS
ASSOCIATED WITH,
HIGH ACHIEVING
CHILDREN.
Abelard, Hoffines, &
Mills, 1996.

5. HOW DO PARENTS
RESPOND TO A
CHILD WITH
DYSLEXIA WHO
CONSISTENTLY
STRUGGLES
ACADEMICALLY?
The Child and Families Bill
(Government, 2014).

6. PARTICIPANT SAMPLE AND
INTERVIEW ORDER
Mother, 42 (Son, 14): S.E.N.CO. One other son with no dyslexic traits.
Mother, 37 (Son, 13): Working. Two other children with no dyslexic traits.
Father, 48 (Son, 15): Engineer. No other children.
Father, 45 (Son, 15): Salesman. One other child with no dyslexic traits.
Mother, 39 (Daughter,13): Sales. Other daughter with no dyslexic traits.
Mother, 33 (Daughter, 14): Retail. Other son with no dyslexic traits.

7. GROUNDED THEORY
Don’t be afraid of Subjectivism!
Be flexible in the interview process.
Broad Sample to select from (N.E.L.D.A. and Schools).
Primary and secondary coding to add discipline to
discourse analysis.
Charmaz, 2006.

8. FREQUENCY OF CITED COGNITIONS IN TEXT
ANXIETY AND FRUSTRATION 42%
SOCIAL COMPARISONS 34%
EXPECTATIONS 14%
NEGATIVE EMOTIONS 6%
GUILT/REGRET 6%

9. WHAT IS DRIVING
PARENTAL
THOUGHTS?
Primary school support and testing
Achievement comparisons of peers
and siblings
Childhood memories or experiences
Lack of child motivation and
progression
Teacher feedback
Transcript 6: p 3. 168-170
“I don’t want to be, not normal, and make him
out as that; there has been a bit of
embarrassment about it between us and the
school. So it’s here they come again. Well, it’s
the embarrassment”.

10. WHAT IS HAPPENING PRE-DIAGNOSIS?
Transcript 4: p 2. 51-53
“Well I’d be mortified with spellings seeing her working, and her brother not working, getting them all
right. She’d practice, practice, practice, practice. Then come home, and say, she had done really
well; but she had only got them half right”.
Transcript 5: p 1. 54-56
“You know with his work he would have the ability, but we would look at it and I would say, can you
not see that pattern forming or can you not see what it is saying, can you not see that. So it was, come
on, your not trying”.
Transcript 6: p 3. 25-26
“Her friend said that she never finishes her work. I wasn’t pleased with her so, I thought, I’d go into
school to see her teacher. I thought my child should be thriving because she is intelligent”.

11. PRE-DIAGNOSIS
Transcript 2: p 2. 58-59
“But she was frustrated, she was
banging her arm, she was crying,
she wouldn’t do her homework”.
Transcript 2: p 3. 95-96
“I was having panic attacks, I was
losing sleep over it; anxious for six
months before she went to be
assessed at the school”.

12. PRE-DIAGNOSIS: SOCIAL
COMPARISONS AND
EXPECTATIONS PROMOTING
ANXIETY
Transcript 4: p 3. 32-33
“She was always on the lower tables and I thought,
why? When we are doing what we are doing. She is
not a daft kid you know. She is very intelligent”.
Transcript 6: p 3. 133
“I don’t see it as a problem for him himself, I just see
that when you are away from the norm; its just that bit
harder then”.

13. Transcript 2: p 4. 103-104
“Things changed,
overnight”.

14. POST DIAGNOSIS
Transcript 5: p 3. 164
“No more, what is wrong with me? Yeah, instead of him thinking he
is thick, or, us thinking that he is thick”.
Transcript 4: p 4. 119
“Well, you know, this is a good thing, it’s not her fault”.
Transcript 1: p 3. 115
“To be honest it was a bit of a relief”.

15. A CHILD’S RESPONSE TO THEIR ACADEMIC SELF-CONCEPT
AND THE INFLUENCE OF PARENTAL BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES
Parental Cognitive
response to child’s
academic ability
Parental
Behaviour
Child cognitive
response to
Parental
Behaviour
Child response to
Academic self
Child develops
Academic self
concept
concept

16. FINDINGS
Parental anxiety is most likely driven by
expectations and social comparisons.
These factors are causing behaviours
which can affect the Academic Self-
Concept of children with Dyslexia, to a
much greater degree, than for children
who do not have dyslexic traits.

17. APPLICATIONS
Development of a tool to measure the
Academic Self-Concept for children.
Awareness training for parents (Burden, 2008).
Transparency of educational results.
Teacher training.

19. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
NORTH EAST LANCASHIRE DYSLEXIA
ASSOCIATION
FRANCIS MERCER
QUEEN ELIZEBETH’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL S.E.N
DEPARTMENT
ST. WILFRED’S HIGH SCHOOL S.E.N. DEPARTMENT
ST. AUGUSTINE’S S.E.N. DEPARTMENT