Supporting a child with dyslexia: how parents/carers engage with school‐based support for their children

Abstract

Parents’/carers’ experiences of their children’s dyslexia were explored in a mainstream secondary school in England. Interviews were undertaken with the parents/carers of young people at Hilltop View School, a secondary school in south‐west England. Bourdieusian concepts of field, habitus and practice were powerful in underpinning analysis using Jenkins’s (2008) ‘levels of interaction’ when exploring these experiences. It was found that parents/carers drew on bio‐social conceptualisations when making sense of dyslexia, and this helped them to reframe their children’s dyslexia positively. However, they encountered difficulties when engaging in the development of support for their children; the role inhabited by parents versus that of professionals impeded their ability to access the field of education effectively at Hilltop View School.

“It’s a Battle!”: Parenting and Supporting a Child with Dyslexia

“…This is also problematic, as there is potential for individuals to understand reasons for their difficulties as being outside of their control, leading to disempowerment and oppression when they experience dyslexic-type difficulties. As such this paper draws on a bio-social model of dyslexia congruent with earlier work by MacDonald [22] and Ross [11,15]. This model allows for consideration of underlying impairments within the individual, and external, social factors which act to emphasize or minimize effects of that underlying impairment.…”

“…Medicalized views of dyslexia locate its root causes within the individual with little-to-no reference to structural factors affecting it [19]. Solvang [20], Ross [15] and Calfee [19] found that language surrounding 'diagnosis' of dyslexia frame it as an internal 'impairment' within the individual. This serves to explain why children experienced difficulties and removes parents' 'fault' for their children's dyslexic difficulties.…”

“…While dyslexia and identity have been considered sociologically [4,22], a unified theory to facilitate exploration and analysis of its effects on individuals, their identities and interactions, and ability to engage with social structures is lacking. Ross' [11,15] work pragmatically knitted together 'levels of interaction' [1] to explore stakeholders' experiences in the development of support interventions for young people in school. Key concepts are defined in this section.…”

“…As has been shown elsewhere, Bourdieu's concepts of 'habitus' , 'field' and 'practice' [25][26][27] and Jenkins' 'levels of interaction' [1] have been successfully knitted together to develop a strong theoretical framework to analyze social interactions [11,15]. Through this framework, barriers to parents' meaningful participation in discussions about provision for their children have been uncovered [15], and teachers' roles in provision for young people have been explored. This was done through the analysis of habitus, practice and field at different 'levels of interaction' [1].…”

“…Political constructs within education in England place the onus for inclusion on professionals, settings and Local Authorities [14]. However, studies have found that parental participation is not always productive or meaningful, despite policy expectations [10,[15][16]. As such, exploration of institutional roles and policy within this chapter is important to understand structures which impede parents' active participation in their children's education.…”