How do primary school children make sense of their being diagnosed with dyslexia? : a grounded theory study

Abstract

With the increasing awareness of specific learning difficulties, and continuous demands on the educational psychologist working in a school setting, to assess and diagnose, it is valuable to explore children’s experience of getting a diagnosis, how they construct their understanding of the diagnosis and how they assimilate it. Research considering children’s views on receiving and assimilating the diagnosis of dyslexia and their meaning making of dyslexia after disclosure and its impact on them is very limited. To address this gap, five 7-10-year-old children participated in four group sessions that explored how children with dyslexia construct the meaning of their diagnosis and its implication for their well-being. Grounded theory analysis identified “Positive meaning making contributes to hope” as the core category that highlighted a process that children go through in the meaning making of dyslexia diagnosis. This comprised of the categories “Feeling scared”, “I have dyslexia, but it is OK”, “Facing adversities” and “Coping with dyslexia.” The core category was positioned in the context of Snyder’s theory of Hope (1994). The study contributes a fresh insight on dyslexia contrary to the prevalent deficit lens. The findings help professionals reflect on how to best approach the communication of a dyslexia diagnosis to children and what support services best to offer children in their journey towards a positive meaning making of this challenge.