| dc.description.abstract | Reading must be regarded as a skill which
by no means every child of normal intelligence can
easily master, no matter how well and patiently
taught. This research is concerned, not with
backward readers generally, but only with a minority
of them as may be called dyslexic, that is, those
with specific language/reading difficulties which
can be ascribed neither to overall lack of intelligence
or educational opportunity nor to emotional or
social difficulties at home or at school.
In recent years extensive research has been
done on the topic of dyslexia in America and Britain
and books have been written in an effort to
establish the presence, severity, nature and cause
of the learning difficulty. There is reason to
believe that certain Kenyan children also tend
to exhibit those behavioural symptoms ascribed to
dyslexia.
Major problems which dyslexic children encounter
in reading, writing and spelling include difficulties
in visual perception, auditory perception, memory,
sequence, orientation and kinesthetic-motor response.
The intention of this study was (1) to identify the
specific language/reading difficulties exhibited
by Kenyan children, paying particular attention
to the above problems, and (2) to find out to what
extent this difficulty exists.
The sample was composed of children from the
eight Nairobi City Council 'High Cost' Primary
Schools. These schools are considered as 'High
Priority' in educational. advantage and opportunity
by both parents and educationists. The children
were selected as far as possible to exclude
those factors commonly associated with and thought
to give rise to a difficulty in learning to read
and spell. In this sample, socio-economic status,
based on the father's or mother's occupation, was
largely biased toward a middle class background.
In a majority of cases, both parents were educated.
This was an advantage in so far as cultural and
linguistic deprivation was unlikely to be a major
cause of any deficit.
The research was carried out in three stages.
In the first stage-Initial Classroom Screening teachers
were asked to refer any child who ·seemed
to exhibit a significant number of the behavioural
symptoms which characterise dyslexia by completing
the 'Check List for Detecting Specific Language/
Reading Difficulties', an instrument devised to
aid the teacher in assessing her children's
reading and spelling difficulties. The questionnaire
consisted of 12 behavioural items commonly
attributed to dyslexia, on a four point scale.
It was assumed that most of the children with
dyslexic tendencies would be referred by teachers
and prevalence could be based on this assumption.
A total of 151 children were initially referred.
In the second screening stage-Diagnostic Testing both
intelligence tests and attainment tests
were administered to the referred children in
order to ascertain the existence or non-existence
of a discrepancy between intelligence level and
performance in reading and spelling, one of the
criteria selected for recognizing dyslexia. At
this stage children who did not meet the criteria
in the study were excluded, the criteria including:
age, school factors of attendance and change of
school, intelligence, retardation, and physical
and emotional status. In all, 116 children were
excluded.
In the final stage-Identifying Dyslexic
Tendencies- the 35 children still in the study
were administered the 'Screening Test for Identifying
Children With Specific Language/Reading Disability'.
This instrument was devised to pin point the
specific difficulties exhibited by dyslexic
children. From the results one could examine
dyslexic tendencies and analyse the extent of the
disability.
The results of this investigation support the
presence of dyslexia --in Kenyan children. There was
evidence to suggest that a sequencing disability
may underlie the reading and spelling retardation.
The results of this study were too inconclusive to
establish a re.liable estimate of prevalence.
This study supports the notion that different
types of dyslexia rarely appear in isolation. Rather,
one type of dyslexia is usually accompanied by other type
Both the severely and moderately dyslexic chi.ldren
exhibited similar behavioural symptoms, suggesting
that their disorders are of a similar nature.
Results support the presence of a continuum of degrees
of dyslexia. The importance of identifying differing
patterns of dyslexia for the purpose of planning
suitable remedial help, was demonstrated | en |
