Inquiry Question
Is dyslexia a necessary distinction for children education?
General Questions
In what way and to what degree does dyslexia impact on students’ learning?
What are the adequate learning aids that are available for the dyslexic students based on their symptoms?
Project Proposal
This project will focus on how dyslexia affects students’ learning and what alternative learning methods are available for them. Reading is considered as one of the most important and essential learning skills for students. This learning disorder then has a tremendous impact on students’ school learning, in particular that the percentage of the dyslexic population is higher than expected (10-15% in the US)[1]. However, a significant number of chief executive officers (CEO), including the co-founder of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs, was shown how they suffered from dyslexia throughout their childhood or life, showing the opportunity for successful learning is still possible for dyslexics[2].
The disorder has been drawing much attention from institutions and organizations over the decade around the world. Before finding out how dyslexia can affect students’ learning, however, there are several myths about the disorder that need to be clarified. With the deeper understanding of the disorder, the connection can be drawn to the impact it has on students’ learning, and to the finding of alternative methods. Many research institutions and organizations would provide the information about dyslexia and the research plan or education methods. There may also be several journal articles that discuss about this disorder. Just by the intuitive definition “reading disability” it may be expected that students with dyslexia tend to perform worse than the average in school, but given the significant number of successful people in the world, I would expect them to perform similarly to the average except for the specific parts of their school learning that requires a large amount of reading, or in general, language processing.
Footnotes
[1] Dyslexia Research Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2014, from http://www.dyslexia-add.org/dyslexia.html
[2] Inspirational Story: Steve Jobs. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2014, from http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/success-stories/steve-jobs