Browsing by Author "Mänkärlä, Aino"

In this thesis the effect of dyslexia on studying and on the other personal life was researched on four students. In addition, the thesis examined how does student's requirements and university support match. Following research questions are posed: How dyslexia appears in university student and how does it affect studying? How does the university pays attention to reading and writing disabilities in teaching and does it satisfies students? How dyslexia has affected the student's life? Previous research shows that dyslexia makes studying more challenging and time consuming. The thesis was a qualitative case study which was based on personal experiences of subjects on dyslexia and the effect of dyslexia on studying and personal life. Research material was obtained by the personal subject interview. Four subjects were interviewed using the theme-centered interview method. Material was analyzed using the data driven content analysis method. Results show that dyslexia affects studying making it more challenging and time consuming. Subjects perceived that they were not getting enough support to studying and wished to get it more. In the university it was possible to get course-wise support for example by getting course materials beforehand or getting extra time for exams. The support required initiativity from student to tell lecturer about dyslexia. Subjects differed from each other on how much they believed to need support to studying. Subjects favored such a form of support as replacing an exam by a learning diary, receiving tuition materials beforehand and getting literature in Finnish. Dyslexia affected the personal life such as getting employed in different ways. Subjects differed with each other about how limiting factor they perceived dylexia to be in their life. Dyslexia makes studying more difficult and slower but is not an obstacle to studying.