Alexander-Passe, N. (2009). Dyslexia, Children and Depression: Research Evidence. In Taylor, B.T. (Ed.) Children and Depression. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
https://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=9890
This is the second part of a study of dyslexia, children and depression, the first detailing empirical evidence. This reflective biographical study of N=29 dyslexic adults between the ages of 23 to 65 years olds, used a semi-structured investigative interview methodology to probe adult dyslexics for their childhood experiences. Dyslexic adults with depression, both with and without degrees were the largest group (N=21) recruited. Female dyslexics with depression was the largest subgroup (N=16) and this reflects the higher frequency of females developing depression than males in the general population, suggesting that females tend to cope more emotionally than males.
Fourteen themes were developed from the transcripts, which were investigated in this study. The themes were: What is dyslexia?; Difference; Humiliation; Schools and Teachers; Frustration and Anger; Avoiding and Being the Class Clown; Rebelling in the Classroom; Truanting and Running away from Home; Perfection; Bullying; Going into a Bubble and Regression; Why some Dyslexics get Depressed; Self-harm and Suicide; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
There seemed little difference between those who have recently left education, to those who left over forty years ago, suggesting that mainstream education has been slow to develop to screen mechanisms for children with disabilities to allow the access to the whole school curriculum.
The evidence presented in this chapter suggests that dyslexics commonly are humiliated in their class by their difficulties, which makes them frustrated by their inability to learn as successfully as their peers. They perceive the classroom as a threatening environment rather than a place to gain new knowledge, so they begin to look for opportunities to reuse old knowledge rather than experimenting to learn new ones, thus they will use smaller words in essays and avoid writing tasks. Their avoidance camouflages their inabilities, and gets in the way of their teachers recognising that they are struggling, thus classroom humiliation and avoidance continues. Parents may also be to blame for covering up their child’s difficulties by doing their homework for them.
The evidence in this study also suggests that avoidance is the key strategy for dyslexics to survive their school years, starting with avoiding putting up their hand to join the academic discourse in the classroom, to continual sharpening of pencils to reduce time spent on task in the classroom. At some point the child sees that the long hard effort they put into their assignments is not reflected in the marks they receive and this confirms to them that they are abnormal learner. They then look to either rebel against their classroom environment or aim to be invisible to reduce further their interaction with these feared stimuli. Avoidance turns to truancy, faking sickness to avoid school or running away from home. Depression begins to set in as they try to deal with the frustrations, anger and anxieties of their school day and a home that does not understand their difficulties, confirming some of their self-perceptions that their bodies are faulty, or that they are adopted or are aliens from outer space. Alternatively their self-blame could turn into self-harm to control their bodies, as they have little control over the rest of their world, as found in the case of cutting their bodies, anorexia, drug/alcohol abuse and binge-eating. These are cries for help when their other cries have not been heard. If they are still ignored then suicide, as seen in this study is an option to put an end to the long-term pain they are experiencing. |
