Generation Next; articles on Dyslexia and Depression

Dyslexia - stress amongst school aged children with dyslexia by Alexander-Passe.pdf
All school children experience stress at some point in their school careers. This study investigates whether dyslexic children, by way of their educational and social difficulties, experience higher levels of stress at school. The School Situation Survey was used to investigate both the sources and manifestations of stress amongst dyslexic children and non-dyslexic sibling controls. Samples were broken down by gender, age and the size of families. Results suggest significant differences between the groups, with dyslexics in academic years 3–5 experiencing the highest stress levels, specifically in interactions with teachers, worries over academic examinations (SATs) and performance testing, causing emotional (fear, shyness and loneliness) and physiological (nausea, tremors or rapid heart beat) manifestations.

Dyslexia and psychosocial functioning.pdf
Individuals with dyslexia may have lower self-esteem and exhibit more emotional and behavioural difficulties than those without reading problems. However, the nature of any relationship between self-esteem and psychopathology remains unknown. This exploratory study assessed levels of self-esteem using the Self- Perception Profile for Children (Manual for the Self-Perception Profile for Children. University of Denver, CO: Denver; 1985) and psycho-social adjustment using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry, 1997; 38: 581-586) and examined child and parent understanding, attitudes and the perceived impact of reading difficulties on daily life.

Dyslexia associated with negative self-worth.pdf
This paper will provide an overview of research in the past 20 years into the relationship between dyslexia and various aspects of selfperception, including self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy and locus of control. Problems are identified relating to the measurement of some of the most widely used constructs, as is the need for more precise identification of key variables relating to them. Critical issues concerning the assumptions that can be drawn from largely correlational data are highlighted also.

Dyslexia coexisting problem behaviour.pdf
The aim of the present study was to obtain more in-depth knowledge of behavioural problems in children with severe dyslexia. Dyslexia is a developmental disorder characterised by deficits in the sub-skills of reading, word identification and phonological decoding (Vellutino and Fletcher, 2005). Children with dyslexia also have impaired spelling (Romani, Olson and Di Betta, 2005; Vellutino and Fletcher, 2005) and problems with rapid automatised naming (RAN) (Willburger, Fussenegger and Moll et al., 2008;Wolf and Bowers, 1999; 2000).

Dyslexia depression and anxiety college.pdf
Today’s college students report more mental health problems while pursuing their postsecondary education than students have reported in the past. Data from the most recent National Survey of Counseling Center Directors indicated that 95% of directors of college counseling centers perceived the number of students with mental health problems to have increased in recent years (Gallagher, 2009). Depression and anxiety are two commonly co-occurring mental health problems experienced by college students, and the rates at which students report these problems have increased drastically over the past decade

Dyslexia How dyslexia teenagers cope - Alexander-Passe.pdf
Research into how dyslexics cope and the effects of their coping has received little attention in the 100 years since dyslexia has been recognized. Why is this? Well it is not an easy area to investigate, partly as most qualitative studies have looked only at coping strategies of specific dyslexics. These are individual and are unsuitable for generalizations to larger populations.
This study takes a different approach to the problem. By using three standardized tests for self-esteem, coping and depression, a picture is painted of how teenage dyslexics cope and whether this affects their self-esteem and depression.

Dyslexia internalising.pdf
There has been some controversy in the literature over whether or not children with dyslexia are more likely to experience internalizing disorders such as depression or anxiety. Many clinicians anecdotally report that children with dyslexia or reading disabilities often have difficulty with behaviors related to these disorders, but the research has been somewhat equivocal.
The studies of the emotional characteristics of children with learning disabilities have typically focused on children with dyslexia or reading disabilities, although several studies have described the socio-emotional functioning of children with other types of learning disabilities.

Dyslexia psychiatric comorbidity.pdf
This study investigated the association between reading disability (RD) and internalizing and externalizing psychopathology in a large community sample of twins with (N 209) and without RD (N 192). The primary goals were to clarify the relation between RD and comorbid psychopathology, to test for gender differences in the behavioral correlates of RD, and to test if common familial in¯uences contributed to the association between RD and other disorders. Results indicated that individuals with RD exhibited signicantly higher rates of all internalizing and externalizing disorders than individuals without RD. However, logistic regression analyses indicated that RD was not signicantly associated with symptoms of aggression, delinquency, oppositional defiant disorder, or conduct disorder after controlling for the signicant relation between RD and ADHD.

Dyslexia severity of emotional problems.pdf
Children and adolescents with poor reading skills face a variety of challenges in their lives, and may be at risk for emotional and behavioral problems. In some cases, behavioral or emotional problems may be triggered by the stress of difficulties in school, or they may be a contributing factor to poor achievement in school or to learning difficulties (Rutter & Yule, 1970). Severity of behavioral and emotional problems also may be associated with the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (Connor et al., 2003), which commonly co-occurs with reading problems (Willcutt & Pennington, 2000a). Nevertheless, many of the studies examining these issues have focused on youth in clinical settings, or youth receiving special educational services rather than youth who have been clearly defined as poor readers in non-clinical settings, and have focused on emotional/behavioral problems at only a single point in time, precluding closer examination of the course of symptoms over time.

Dyslexic teenagers coping.pdf
Research into how dyslexics cope and the effects of their coping has received little attention in the 100 years since dyslexia has been recognized. Why is this? Well it is not an easy area to investigate, partly as most qualitative studies have looked only at coping strategies of specific dyslexics. These are individual and are unsuitable for generalizations to larger populations.
This study takes a different approach to the problem. By using three standardized tests for self-esteem, coping and depression, a picture is painted of how teenage dyslexics cope and whether this affects their self-esteem and depression.

Social and Emotional Problems Related to Dyslexia (website)
Research indicates that dyslexia is caused by biological factors not emotional or family problems. Samuel T. Orton, M.D. was one of the first researchers to describe the emotional aspects of dyslexia. According to his research, the majority of dyslexic preschoolers are happy and well adjusted. Their emotional problems begin to develop when early reading instruction does not match their learning style. Over the years, the frustration mounts as classmates surpass the dyslexic student in reading skills. Recent research funded by the National Institute of Health has identified many of the neurological and cognitive differences that contribute to dyslexia. The vast majority of these factors appear to be caused by genetics rather than poor parenting or childhood depression or anxiety.
http://www.ldonline.org/article/19296/

The Time Magazine The New Science of Dyslexia.pdf
When Sean Slattery, 17, looks at a page of text, he can see the letters. He can even tell you the letters' names. He can even tell you what sounds those letters make. But it often takes a while for the articulate high school student from Dimi Valley, California, to tell you what words those letters form. "I see a wall," he says. "I see hurdle I have to get over." Some words are easier for Sean to figure out than others. "I can get longer words, like electricity," he says. "But I have trouble with shorter words, like four or year."
Slattery has dyslexia, a reading disorder that persists despite good schooling and normal or even above-average intelligence. It's a handicap that affects up to 1 in 5 school children.

What does the dyslexic person feel? (website)
Anxiety is the most frequent emotional symptom reported by dyslexic adults. Dyslexics become fearful because of their constant frustration and confusion in school. These feelings are exacerbated by the inconsistencies of dyslexia. Because they may anticipate failure, entering new situations can becomes extremely anxiety provoking.
Anxiety causes human beings to avoid whatever frightens them. The dyslexic is no exception. However, many teachers and parents misinterpret this avoidance behavior as laziness. In fact, the dyslexic’s hesitancy to participate in school activities such as homework is related more to anxiety and confusion than to apathy.
http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/parents/...