Special Needs Teachers’ Attitude and Practices with Dyslexic Children

Abstract

The problem of dyslexia in general, has been a long running issue for both students and teachers. Special needs education started to be taken seriously in Malaysia during the 1990s, but many factors have not been thoroughly addressed. This paper aims to find out teachers' current practices and attitudes when dealing with dyslexic children in today's special needs education landscape.  The four teachers chosen for this study are the ones who have extensive experience in physical class teaching of special needs children. This qualitative study used questionnaires with 30 self-constructed questions and semi-structured interviews which were conducted via Zoom that were recorded and transcribed using Happy Scribe.  The findings reveal that some factors found necessary in the education of dyslexic children were multi-sensory experiences, repetition, regularity of routine work, and a particular focus on giving them time to process and comprehend information. The availability of resources and the freedom to operate and design individualized educational plans also worked as a bonus for the teachers. Some suggestions to enhance the learning experience of the dyslexic child are also included.