Psychological Resources of Adults With Developmental Dyslexia

Abstract

The aim of our study was to describe specific psychological resources of adults with developmental dyslexia and compare them with psychological resources of adults without developmental dyslexia. Potential differences were analyzed in visual-spatial, creative, and motivational abilities. No evidence was found for either creative, or visuospatial superiority in adults with developmental dyslexia. The results suggest, however, that visual-spatial processing of nonverbal material by adults with developmental dyslexia allows them to efficiently execute tasks that are based on sequential material. Moreover, the participants with specific difficulties in reading and writing exhibited a significantly higher level of aspirations than their peers without such difficulties with a comparable level of educational achievement. These results suggest that succeeding in different fields by highly functioning adult dyslexics may depend on personality and motivational factors, rather than cognitive factors.

Creativity and Intelligence in Children With and Without Developmental Dyslexia1

“…Similar results to the findings here, indicating the absence of difference between the groups in relation to creativity, were also found in a study undertaken by Lockiewicz et al (2013) and Tafti et al (2009), in which they compared the creative performance of subjects with dyslexia with that of subjects without learning difficulties -and did not ascertain differences between the groups. Some hypotheses have been raised to explain why discrepant results have not been found between the groups; these in general involve historical variables which underlie both creativity and dyslexia.…”

“…In the same way, Torrance and Safter (1999) emphasize that the emotional aspects have been considered to be elements of great importance in creativity, often even more important than cognitive factors. Such assertions could explain the results obtained in the present study and, in addition, would support investigations relating to emotional factors in dyslexia, which indicate a greater emotional sensitivity in this case (Lockiewicz et al, 2013).…”

“…Tafti et al (2009), through the use of the Torrance test for figural creativity, did not verify statistically different performance among children with dyslexia and children without learning difficulties. In the same way, in a study undertaken by Lockiewicz, Bogdanowicz, and Bogdanowicz (2013), which compared the creative performance of adults with a satisfactory academic life with that of adults with dyslexia, the results did not evidence significant differences between the groups.…”

“…In the investigation undertaken by Lockiewicz et al (2013), in addition to creativity, these researchers also evaluated visuospatial skills and motivation. As with creativity, better performance from the group with dyslexia in the visuospatial skills was not ascertained, although better performance in motivation tasks was verified.…”

Task‐avoidant behaviour and dyslexia: A follow‐up from Grade 2 to age 20

“…A similar trend was observed with fifth‐ and sixth‐grade Greek students diagnosed with dyslexia, where participants reported using a surface approach more often, characterized by task‐avoidant behaviours (Polychroni et al, ). However, no differences were found between Polish adults with and without dyslexia on self‐reported task avoidance measurements (Lockiewicz, Bogdanowicz, & Bogdanowicz, ). These different findings could possibly be explained by various age‐related factors, particularly because those studies, which demonstrated differences in task‐focused and task‐avoidant behaviours, were focused on childhood.…”