Chapter 7 - Emotional Techniques to Overcome Barriers to Learning

Summary

This chapter focuses on types of emotional strategies that students are using to deal with negative emotion. It links back to Chapter Three by clarifying that dyslexic student negative emotion is an issue not only because of its prevalence; in fact, the students interviewed did not have any productive strategies to cope emotionally. Consequently, the chapter themes negative emotional coping methods under the actions of avoidance, getting stressed, worrying and crying, panicking, and withdrawing from social interaction. It confirms these themes by providing recollections from voices of students who have employed these methods. Although this may initially seem rather defeatist, the sharing of these experiences by students with dyslexia is in fact positive for dyslexic readers of the book, as they can identify with the scenarios. The second part of the chapter is themed around more productive emotional coping methods that some of the students discussed as mechanisms they found useful: talking to someone, planning and using strategies, implementing breaks, participating in exercise, seeking comfort, and using mental resilience, such as persistence and determination. Specific examples are provided through articulations of dyslexic students, and the dyslexic reader of the book is invited in to consider these approaches.