| The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes about and knowledge of dyslexia in
primary and secondary school educators (general education teachers, special education teachers,
counselors, school psychologists, speech-language pathologists, social workers, and
administrators) in Eastern Idaho via survey methodology. A survey was adapted from the
Dyslexia Belief Index (DBI) created by Wadlington & Wadlington (2005) and distributed by
email to 380 administrators and 5,173 other individuals employed within school districts in
Eastern Idaho (Regions 4, 5, and 6), with 659 responses received. The questions fell within the
broad categories of “attitudes,” “behavior,” “cognition,” “language and literacy,” and
“misconceptions” related to dyslexia. Demographic data are reported and associations made
between respondents’ current job classification and self-reported attitudes about and knowledge
of dyslexia. Overall, attitudes towards dyslexia were positive across groups. General education
teachers were more likely than other educators and administrators to not know whether
statements about dyslexia were true or false. Special education teachers, counselors, school
psychologists, speech-language pathologists, and social workers demonstrated the most accurate
knowledge of dyslexia, despite misconceptions and gaps in knowledge observed across job
classifications. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.
Keywords: dyslexia, reading, Idaho, knowledge, misconceptions, attitudes, public school, special
education, speech-language pathology |