It only takes one teacher to make a difference in the life of a student with dyslexia: A content analysis

Abstract

Students in Oklahoma schools who struggle to read consistently perform low in reading, including those with dyslexia. Teachers of these students are directly linked to students' achievement in all areas of academics. This qualitative content analysis explored the perceptions that six selected Oklahoma public school educators had about dyslexia and the pedagogical choices they made when they had students who struggled to read in their classrooms. The six Oklahoma educators directly taught reading in kindergarten through third grades and were purposefully selected to participate. Data collected consisted of semi-structured interviews of each participant. Their perceptions were analyzed using the causal model and the Framework for Understanding. Checklists created from IDA's (2019) Structured Literacy Primer and multisensory techniques were also used to analyze the data. This content analysis found that things not easily measured by observation were a struggle for the participants, three participants had some idea of what dyslexia was, and three did not. Still, all participants knew that dyslexia and intelligence were not related. Misconceptions about dyslexia existed among these participants, such as dyslexia as a visual issue. The participants' changes to instruction did not provide evidence that structured literacy and multisensory techniques were used simultaneously.