Personal, educational and psychological characteristics of university students with dyslexia and matched controls: A pilot study

Abstract

An increasing number of students enter higher education every year. There is a need to develop time and cost effective ways to identify students with dyslexia reliably. The present study investigates whether a protocol based on self-report questions could be a valid screening measure for dyslexia in a sample of university students. The protocol was constructed on the basis of the Adult Dyslexia Checklist, the Visual Problems Checklist and the Academic and Professional Profile Questionnaire. Non-parametric statistical analysis found several significant differences between dyslexic students and controls (adult dyslexia score, visual difficulties score, performance at school, written ability at primary school and university, anxiety at university) as well as correlations between certain variables. This study supports the usefulness of self-report assessment of dyslexia in adult population. It also discusses the possibility of combining self-report measures of dyslexia with several cognitive tasks which have been found to discriminate students with dyslexia from their peers.