Dyslexia in Education: A Comprehensive Case Study of Alex's Challenges

This case study examines Alex, an 11-year-old student diagnosed with dyslexia, and explores the challenges he faces within the educational system. The study delves into Alex's difficulties with reading, writing, and overall academic performance, analyzing the historical and contemporary challenges he encounters, including his negative attitude towards school and social interactions. The assignment describes features of a 'dyslexia friendly' school, and proposes interventions, including assistive technology and structured programs focusing on multisensory learning, reading and spelling strategies, and the involvement of professionals. The plan outlines short-term and long-term objectives, emphasizing the importance of addressing Alex's self-esteem, utilizing educational games, and fostering a supportive learning environment to improve his academic success and overall well-being. The study highlights Alex's strengths, such as his comprehension skills and problem-solving abilities, emphasizing the need for educators to understand his challenges and provide appropriate support.

Psychology
Dyslexia
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Introduction
Alex is 11 years and 7 months old. He is a male final year a student at primary school and will be
heading to secondary school. It is evident that Alex is suffering from a condition known as
dyslexia.
His parents understand that this particular condition has a high likelihood to affect physical
growth and development of Alex as a child. It is evident that dyslexia is typically a learning
disorder which is highly characterized by reading challenges.
Alex condition started at childhood during speech development and was initially placed under an
intervention program for 6 months.
Its symptoms include having late talking, having to learn new phrases and words slowly and also
rampant delays during the reading of a particular text.
This condition makes it hard for children to read or learn since there exists a challenge in what
the brain of the particular child processes things like graphics symbols (Eden, Olulade, Evans,
Krafnick, & Alkire, 2016).It is also important to note that the challenge in dyslexia is a linguistic
problem and not a visual one.
In this case, we note the intelligence portrayed in Alex is in spite of suffering from this disorder.
However, Alex faces many challenges in school caused by this particular disorder
Describe features of a ‘dyslexia friendly’ school where inclusive educational practices support
individuals with dyslexia and the identified associated learning differences:
Alex school has programs features that enable students with dyslexia
Some other features include;

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 Inclusive classroom environment
 Debates clubs
 Library features like reading materials
 Technology advancement like computers
 Playgrounds special for them
In spite of him being placed in a program meant to improve his present condition, it does not
improve and shows itself during his times in schools (Gooch, Snowling, & Hulme, 2011).
Analyze historical and contemporary challenges
Alex faced this condition from childhood and past experiences. Some of the challenges that Alex
face as a result of the condition is having a continued disinterest in books, being highly sulky and
trying to avoid school work as much as possible. Dyslexia is a syndrome that brings about
various difficulties decreasing the chances of school success.it specifically affects the aspects of
reading, writing making one have short term recall difficulties and processing abilities.
This has future long term effects in his academic performance as it is seen that he performs
poorly in reading.it can also have future impacts on his communication and reading skills that are
important in the job market (Handler & Fierson, 2011). His parents are equally worried that this
condition may drag him completely down after joining secondary school. They are worried that
Alex will not have normal physical and cognitive development such as other children.
Alex has a bad attitude towards reading and interacting with peers in school since he is afraid
that they might laugh at him because of his present conditions. This highly influences his self-
esteem hence rapidly lowering his confidence to approach learning in school (Hornickel, Zecker,
Bradlow, & Kraus,2012). This might bring about feelings of anxiousness and depression in

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future.it is evident that Alex becomes quite uneasy during reading and does everything possible
to avoid reading in the classroom.
He prefers being alone making him feel discriminated and socially excluded in the classroom
setting.
He has a negative attitude towards himself since he compares himself to his peers. This makes
him consider himself as stupid and worse. This aspect can result in mental trauma. He feels that
he is worthless and cannot hence achieve anything (McBride et al 2011). This requires
psychological needs for counseling and advice. He also requires health intervention needs.
Alex has various personal strengths. He has the ability to understand comprehension easily and
can read short texts well in a silent manner. He is able to understand clearly when a particular
text is read to him thus indicating his high level of intelligence. He also has great listening skills.
Alex is a hardworking young man and puts great efforts in subjects like maths. According to the
case study, Alex performs highly in math tests. Therefore he has excellent problem solving and
reasoning skills as key strengths.
Alex has interests in solving various complex puzzles and has the ability and interest to engage
in designing model airplanes during his free time. It is a great interest which in future will bring
positive results acting as an ability and or talent (Robertson, Joanisse, Desroches & Terry, 2013).
This is specifically in relation to language-related activities (Van der Mark et al 2011). A person
suffering from this particular condition will have difficulties in sequencing, coordination, motor
skills and also visual processing abilities of large phrases and texts in a certain passage.
There are other factors like structuring of information that are problematic issues associated with
dyslexia condition. Others include organizational, having a long attention span, increased

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anxieties numeracy difficulties. This is seen in Alex’s condition since he is sometimes quite
anxious when his turn in classroom reading reaches. He normally fakes long calls in order to go
to the toilet and avoid the reading session. He also has a low attention span during reading.
According to the case study, it is evident that he quite distressed in writing and reading since he
breaks the pencil intentionally so as to avoid those activities.
Alex has a verbal acuity. People with dyslexia mainly operates in a right-brained mode
indicating an aptitude for creating great connections and visualization of international ideas.it is
evident that they mostly rely upon long term memory for practices and having to get easy
examples so as to clearly understand the comprehensions. When he is given an opportunity to
study appropriately and in a conducive environment, his strengths and abilities will be highly
beneficial in the future.
As seen in Alex ability to design airplane models, it is evident that he has great artistic,
imaginative and architectural abilities.
The educators in Alex’s classroom needed to have a better understanding of the challenges that
Alex faces throughout the school period. Thus prior to this knowledge, a huge deal of
misunderstanding Alex' behavior will be prevented (van Viersen, Kroesbergen, Slot, & de Bree,
2016). If teachers clearly understand Alex better he will be able to study in a positive,
encouraging and supportive environment hence bringing about experiences of successful feeling.
It will also ensure personal identity for him to feel self-value and appreciated by others.
The abilities of children suffering from this condition should not be ultimately measured only on
the fundamental basis of their difficulties in getting literacy skills. Like all other children, Alex is
bound to thrive on challenges and success.

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Parents should identify mechanism available in schools and programs meant to help children
with such kind of condition. This includes library support and technology advancement
mechanism in schools.
Recommended action
Action to take to begin working with the student
Basically, the time spent in the education system plays a key role in the development of the
child. This shows that everyone can aid in handling the dyslexic learner in school. According to
the case of Alex to me, I think I can use different activities to help the child learn just like the
other students in the school. Generally, dyslexic students experience learning differences in
schools. This shows that dyslexic students are not in the position to hold information in their
minds just like the non-dyslexic students in school. Most of the dyslexic students as in our case
of Alex, he experiences learning challenges which at times leads to isolation within the school
(Varvara, Varuzza, Padovano Sorrentino, Vicari & Menghini, 2014).
In order to come up with apt action plan, I may use different concepts such as the use of reading
and spelling plan in the school, use of other professionals to help Alex and also testing the extent
at which the disorder has ruined the life of Alex.
Through the testing process I will be in the position to detect the extent at which the dyslexia
disorder has affected Alex in the school and also at the home grounds. The testing process will
affirm how Alex will improve on the mastering of different contents in the school.
In addition, the action will consider the use of reading and spelling strategy that will improve the
condition experienced by the Alex. In order to handle the issue of reading and spelling, I may

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decide to use educational games which will aid in mastering spellings thus helping Alex to
understand the concept outlined in the class (Ramus,2014).
By use of professionals, I will access adequate knowledge that helps to handle the dyslexia
disorder in Alex. Also, the professionals on their own will be the position to identify the
corrective action needed to treat the dyslexia disorder experienced by the Alex.
Programme to take
Alex has been facing literacy challenge in school. Even though the situation head been
experiencing reduced, Alex has been still experiencing some literacy challenges such as difficult
in spelling some words and at the same time difficulties in reading.
In order to handle all these challenges experienced by the Alex, I would prefer to use assistive
technology and tools programme to help Alex. This means that the programme will account for
use of pocket spell checkers which will strengthen Alex to spell words with confidence. In
addition, the programme will account for the line readers which will boost the condition
experienced by the Alex.
I will also use a programme that will emphasize the use of line readers by Alex. Generally, most
of the dyslexic people use line readers to help them in reading. I would prefer Alex to utilize the
programme thus improving his learning skills in the school (Raschle, Zuk & Gaab, 2012).
Structure of the plan
The structure of the plan will account for the short and long term objectives. The short term
objective for handling the case of Alex will emphasize strategies such as multisensory learning in
the school. The multisensory learning will help Alex to write words with tactile materials and at

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the same time helping Alex to use physical activities to practice spelling. On another hand, the
long term objective will be through the working together with parents and any other stakeholders
available to deal with dyslexia in schools and at home as seen in the case study of Alex (Ruffino,
Gori, Boccardi, Molteni & Facoetti, 2014).
The time scale for the proposal will follow a chronological order throughout. At first, the aim of
the entire concept here is to come up with an appropriate procedure to help Alex from his
disorder. Based on the programme selected, the plan will end after one week of a thorough
investigation on how to handle dyslexia disorder in the schools. The programme will be
characterized by four main sessions whereby each section reveals criteria for handling dyslexia
in Alex. In order to get the baseline, the programme identified I will the use colored keyboard
which has the large letters which can be read by everyone. The colored keyboard will form a
base line thus allowing the dyslexic students to write and at same interpret different concepts
(Lobier, Zoubrinetzky & Valdois, 2012).
How to examine the progress made at the end of the intervention programme
The issue of self-esteem has become a common factor in almost all schools. Some of the ways
which will aid in addressing self-esteem for Alex include encouraging Alex to think positively
about his life and try as much as possible to avoid negative thinking on himself. I will also
encourage Alex to pay attention to reading and spelling when in class. In addition, Alex should
be making lists showing how he has achieved his achievements and at the same time a note
indicating his weaknesses and strengths.
In addition, I will use different resources to work with students with Dyslexia. I will use
education games related sources in the school's resources will be categorized depending on the

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age of the students. All the educational games used for supporting dyslexia students will improve
the mastering of information by Alex. These games will be selected from the online services
such as the apps based on the student's perspective, and the parents' involvement/homeschool
relationships (Darki, Peyrard-Janvid, Matsson,Kere & Klingberg,2012).
Summary
To sum up, the school should realize the apt methods of handling dyslexic students. This means
that programmes related to dyslexia should be emphasized hereby the aim is to improve the
learning skills of dyslexic students in school. All the school programmes ought to initiate
‘dyslexia friendly' techniques. Disability Standards in Education (DSE) should be encouraged
and at the same time, teachers should check on appropriate opportunities to help the dyslexic
learner's (Hämäläinen, Salminen & Leppänen,2013). Teaching dyslexia as a subject in National
Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) in schools will help on creating awareness on how to
assist learners with dyslexia disorder in the school. This can be achieved by working together
between the school and parents. The school should meet with dyslexic students' parents to
discuss the progress of the child and at same to check the strategies used by the parents at home.
This will help in identifying the apt learning method that successfully aids in learning (Callens,
Tops & Brysbaert,2012).

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