Psychodynamic aspects of the reading problem.

Abstract

ESTORATION of function is the ultimate aim of every corrective proce-R dure. The methods used are most effective when their application is causal rather than symptomatic. We have learned to think of the individual as a psychobiological unit whose traits and potentialities evolve through gradual differentiation. The rate and degree of emergence of specific functions results from the interplay between an originally undifferentiated anlage and the environment during the process of maturation. Therefore, in disturbances of function we need to search for the factors that interfered with this process.The behavioristic manifestations of the instinctual tendencies are the functions of incorporation, elimination and retention, and exploration. Their emergence, interplay, and fate determine the individual's final capacity for action and self-assertion. They reach their first crisis in early childhood during which they establish primarily their usefulness to the individual's survival. The gradual development of their pleasure value then guarantees their elaboration and perfection. However, this is modified by the effects of socializing forces; the gratifications or frustrations, and the permissions or limitations implied in the parental attitudes. For the sake of security with the parents the child will make any necessary changes in his instinctual activities. Distortions and inhibitions of elementary functions must therefore be accounted for by the history of the socializing experience.We know how the experience of feeding and habit training reflects itself in the child's later character. The vicissitudes encountered by the exploratory function are similarly reflected in the later capacity for abstract learning. In this presentation we will attempt to show a specific connection between disturbances in the evolution of the exploratory function and later manifest reading difficulties. Given adequate intelligence the child must still have preserved the courage for active curiosity if he is to learn to read. The earliest objects of curiosity are the child's own body, and the immediate objects and persons of his early environment together with their mutual relationships. Curiosity as an aspect of the exploratory function is thus influenced by the earliest interpersonal experiences with all their emotional connotations. If these are traumatic the exploratory function may become a danger to the child's security. This may occur in several ways. If the earlier functions of intake and of elimination and retention have encountered unhealthy vicissitudes, or if the exploratory function itself has been traumatized, then curiosity, as an aggressive self-assertion, becomes connected with anxiety toward those persons who exercise external control and, a t the same time, are those on whom the child depends. On the other hand, if the exploratory * Presented at the 1942 Meeting.The authors are indebted to Doctor Maxwell Gitelson for his advice and assistance. Study financed in part through the special fund provided by the Woman's Board of th...

A Century of Progress

“…A number of psychoanalytic theories were proposed to explain the existence of reading disabilities and to prescribe treatment. These theories included the following: Because curiosity and the desire to explore motivate a child to learn to read, if parents discourage or punish young children for expressing these drives, anxiety arises out of fear of losing the parents’ love (Sylvester & Kunst, 1943). Anxiety then interferes with the child’s ability to learn to read.…”

“…• • Because curiosity and the desire to explore motivate a child to learn to read, if parents discourage or punish young children for expressing these drives, anxiety arises out of fear of losing the parents' love (Sylvester & Kunst, 1943). Anxiety then interferes with the child's ability to learn to read.…”

The relationship between language teachers' attitudes and the state‐trait anxiety of adolescents with dyslexia

“…Books become phobic objects for some children with dyslexia, so they avoid them or cover them so they cannot see them. They even avoid going to libraries (Swain, 1985; Sylvester & Kunst, 1968). As a result, children with dyslexia develop emotions that fluctuate from anger to indifference because they believe they do not have the control of what happens when they are reading (Gentile & McMillan, 1981).…”

Learning Disability and Emotional Disorder

“…The conflict was resolved by renunciation of achievement (sometimes in favour of a preferred sibling), denial and avoidance of abstract thinking or an inability to attend to specifics. Jarvis (1958) and Sylvester (1943) have described a group of children whose visual curiosity and exploratory drives have been overstimulated or blocked by anxiety. Some have been exposed to sexual traumata, others to shocks of a more general nature.…”