Accommodating Students with Dyslexia: A Case Study

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement

For Language Research

Ariel E. San Jose, Ph.D.

SPAMAST Digos Campus
Matti, Digos City, Davao del Sur

Ramcel Pearl D. Pacarat

Anna Mae A. Sentillas
 ACCOMODATING STUDENTS WITH DYSLEXIA: A CASE STUDY

INTRODUCTION
An appropriate classroom setting becomes the "slaughterhouse" for students with
dyslexia (San Jose, 2012). Such accommodations and modifications for dyslexic students are
nearly always mandatory for success. For the educators, it should come with great patience,
understanding, effort with effective teaching tools, methods and strategies for them not just
too fully participate in every academic activity and complete classroom works but also for the
conduct of their learning itself. How must the teachers accommodate these kinds of students
with special needs? What should the teachers do to help this kind of student to learn easily?
Dyslexia is a learning disability that occurs among individuals. It is hereditary
(Lucid, 2006), but not a disease, therefore, it cannot be cured (Gillis, 2017). Children with
dyslexia have difficulties in reading, writing, spelling, and sometimes even in speaking
(Kassotakis, 2015). In a study conducted by San Jose (2012), it was highlighted there that
'many people are not aware that dyslexia can jeopardize a person's entire future'. Hodge
(2000) pointed out that dyslexic students are suffering from anguish and trauma in their
environment because of their learning difficulty. She added that classroom teachers may be
confused by the student whose still underachiever due to seems they did not give efforts in
learning; without knowing the real problem of the student, causing them to feel
uncomfortable and having low self-esteem. It is the class teacher's responsibility to provide
an atmosphere to conducive learning for all the students in a class.
Dealing with children with dyslexia is the most challenging and difficult one.
Marshall (2004) revealed that one out of five learners in a classroom setting might be affected
by dyslexia. Dyslexic people think differently so they learn differently. It is not due to either
lack of intelligence or desire to learn; with appropriate teaching methods, dyslexic students
can learn successfully.
After scanning different journals regarding this topic, we observed that reading
comprehension and spelling are the most common learning issue in the educational landscape
among students who are dyslexic. Hale (2011) revealed that reading comprehension and
spelling are the greatest areas in assessing the child's learning, which can have the greater
chances to excel in school if the student's reading skills are satisfactory according to Cayubit
(2012). It is a great challenge for the teachers to accommodate the needs of these people since
they must be given critical consideration. This paper aims to find out the best teaching
methods for students with dyslexia to help them in coping with their struggles in learning. As
Rogers, renowned dyslexic architect, commented in the Dyslexia Handbook (Symthe, 2000),
'Every individual has a right to the best education –to be taught in the way they are best able
to learn.' Teachers shall have an adequate understanding of the problems that a dyslexic child
has. Hopefully, with this study, a great deal of misunderstanding of a child's behavior can be
determined. In a positive and motivating environment, a dyslexic child will experience the
feeling of success and self-value.
Research Questions:
This study aims to know and explore the struggles, teaching methods and insights of a
teacher upon accommodating students with this kind of learning disability. Specifically, it
sought answers to the following questions:
1. What are the teaching strategies of the participant upon accommodating dyslexic
children?
2. What are the struggles of the teacher in dealing with dyslexic students?
3. What are the significant insights does the participant obtain from these teaching
experiences?

Theoretical Lens:
This study was anchored by the Causal Theory by Frith (1997). He pointed out the
three theories that emphasize the nature of dyslexia:
Phonological theory talked about the specific impairments of phonological
representation, memory and retrieval of speech sounds (Castellote, Dakin, Day, Frith, Ramus,
Rosen, & White, 2003) or being confuse upon comparing rhyming letters to non-rhyming
letters, rapid naming and short-term memory (Baddeley, 1996); resulting dyslexics' reading
mistakes and slowness (Liberman, 1971 & Orton, 1937). Furthermore, if speech sounds are
poor, learning the graphophonic relationship is compromised. The evidence that supports this
theory showed that dyslexics have poorer performance in tasks of being conscious in speech
sounds, manipulation and segmentation.
Also, Allophonic Theory discussed that the phonological changes created by someone
with dyslexia are caused by a deficit in speech perception. The insensitivity to the perception
of these phonemes is characterized by an allophonic mode of perception
(Noordenbos&Serniclaes, 2015). Bogliotti, Galusi, Serniclaes, and Sprenger (2008) also
stated that the inability to blend phonemic characteristics would not be inferior to the auditory
perceptual deficit or alteration in phonological awareness. Relatively, the person would be a
failure in pairing phonetic predispositions during the perceptual development.
Finally, the Visual Deficit specifically in Oculomotor by Hinshelwood (1895) in the
first place that has a visual problem could lead to dyslexia. And Burri& Park (1943)
suggested that having trouble with binocular vision could be leading in causing reading
disability. This theory points out that dyslexia was originally conceived as a visual problem
and has subjective symptoms including visual difficulties such as dancing letters or floating
letters and letter reversals (Moores, 1999).

Significance of the Study:

The study would be of significance in the following ways:
Teachers. This study is relevant to educators and future educators. It enables them to
distinguish which teaching strategies and methods tend to be more effective in addressing the
difficulties and necessities of these dyslexic learners in terms of the academic affair. Besides,
it helps them to have a better understanding of their students' struggles especially those who
have special needs that are often mistaken with a low level of intelligence or worse mentally
retarded when it fact they are not.
Students. This study is essential to the learners especially to those unaware children
that already had this kind of learning disability. It gives self-awareness that needs to give
special accommodation.
Parents. This study is beneficial to the guardians or parents who have dyslexic
children. It gives them an adequate understanding of these problems does their children have;
and
Future Researchers. This study will help them through this basic information for
their further study regarding this case. These may use it as their accurate and relevant
citations.

METHOD

Research Design
The present study used a qualitative case study method. This method was used to
"explore and discover personal insights and understanding" (San Jose, 2012) of an individual
who lived and experience a certain situation. In this aspect, the researchers applied the
qualitative method to gain an in-depth understanding (Patton, 2002; Seidman, 1998) and to
make interpretations about the experiences, feelings, attitudes, and perceptions (Finn, 1998)
on how a teacher accommodates students with dyslexia. Moreover, this study used the
intrinsic case method because it only involved a single phenomenon (San Jose, 2016) that
aims to determine and discover the accommodations given by the teacher to the dyslexic
learners for them to learn effectively in a normal classroom setting.

Participants
The selection of participants for this study was based on a strategy referred to as, a
purposive selection which denotes that "a selection strategy in which particular settings,
persons or activities are selected deliberately to provide information that can't be gotten as
well from other choices" (Maxwell, 2005). The main participant of this study is a pure
Filipina elementary teacher who has been teaching students in a far-flung area for over ten
(10) years. She spent fourteen (14) years in her teaching career meeting different kinds of
students with learning difficulties specifically those who have troubles in reading and
spelling. She was a graduate of Bachelor of Science major in Generalist and finished her
Master in Education last 2017.
Instruments
To answer all the research questions, we used questionnaires that were validated by
the validators that will serve as our guide upon conducting an interview. The questionnaire
was composed of three guide questions with two probe questions each. This is to understand
the teacher's point-of-view, which is derived through observation, oral questioning based on
their experience, and this will provide them an opportunity to describe their understanding of
teaching and learning experiences (Altamimi, 2016). Also, to determine that a teacher has a
dyslexic student, we provided a checklist called the Colorado Learning Disabilities
Questionnaire – Reading Subscale (CLDQ-R) School Age Screener. This is to measure the
learning disability of a child in ages 6-18 years old and indeed, this tool is reliable and valid
(International Dyslexia Association, 2017).

Design and Procedure

To ensure the credibility and validity of the study, we strictly followed a certain
procedure to make the process smooth. Primarily, we made questionnaires based on the
objectives of the study, which were to know and explore the struggles, teaching methods and
insights of a teacher upon accommodating students with this kind of learning disability.
These questionnaires we validated through the expert validators to ensure the reliability of the
study. Creswell and Miller (2000) advised that validity involved researchers' awareness of the
study and the kind of case proposal he is going to do.
Before we conduct an in-depth interview with the participant specifically the teacher,
initial permission was asked. We will ask first to the participant if she has a student with
dyslexia. If she was positive of having dyslexia student/s, we will conduct first a CLDQ-R
tool as a confirmation if the participant's student/s is positive with dyslexia. This is to support
this study through gathering factual data.
The participant has oriented the nature of this study and the procedures of how this
study will be conducted. We also oriented the participant about the research protocol. The
questionnaires were given to the participant before the interview was conducted.
After the interview, we told the participant that transcription would be given for her
to verify. As she read the script, we clarified that she can delete some parts that can make her
reputation harm. Stenbacka (2001) said that we can obtain the reliability of the study if the
participant knows the information attained.