FITness and Dyslexia Dyslexia is a wide term that covers a number of symptoms, but it is most frequently associated with problems with reading, writing and spelling. Dyslexia can lead to difficulties in dealing with everyday life, especially in view of the information-led lifestyle that exists today. However, the way in which individuals cope with their dyslexia varies from person to person and this study examined a potential personbased factor that may be associated with this, namely FITness. The FIT Science framework identifies and measures how individuals approach situations, according to their individual thinking and behavioural characteristics. A FIT person will be guided by their own internal criteria and also able to perceive the real demands of the situation and behave appropriately. FIT Science takes account of the core aspects of thinking architecture and offers a psychometrically robust and valid measure of FITness – in the form of The FIT Profiler. The FIT Profiler also measures Outer FITness behaviours in the form of Behavioural Flexibility. In this study, adults formerly diagnosed with dyslexia were asked about how their dyslexia affected them currently and on first diagnosis (which was usually as a child). The main aim of the study was to see whether FITter individuals cope better with a diagnosis of dyslexia and to see if they showed better adjustment to dyslexia over time. If being FIT does help people cope with their dyslexia, we would expect to see a stronger relationship between FIT scores and currently experienced problems, than with problems on first diagnosis. FITness might help to compensate for difficulties because FITter people can adapt better over time, whatever negative circumstances they have to deal with. This FIT Report will also examine the links that might exist between FIT Science measures and the currently reported dyslexia symptoms as measured by the Adult Dyslexia Checklist. This allows a first attempt to explore whether any relationship between FIT and dyslexia is a result of FITter people coping with the same symptom levels, or if FIT affects directly how the symptoms of dyslexia are perceived.
© Professor Ben (C) Fletcher, 2007
Participants A total of 67 participants were recruited through organisations that offer help and support to people with dyslexia. Fifty-five percent of the sample was male and the average age was 39 years old. Procedure Each person completed a specially adapted version of The FIT Profiler (which excluded Behavioural Flexibility) and also the British Dyslexia Association 20-item Adult Dyslexia Checklist (ADC). In addition, they were asked to rate the extent their dyslexia negatively affected them now and also when they were first diagnosed with dyslexia (which for many required them to recall their experiences as a child). Both questions were rated on a 1-10 scale with a score of 1 being a small negative effect and a score of 10 being a large negative effect. It is accepted that memories at the time first diagnosis may not be veridical, but this measure might also serve to rule out ‘halo’ effects. Outcomes The first issue considered is the relationship between the severity of reported dyslexia (as measured by the ADC) and scores on The FIT Profiler. There are several ways of scoring the ADC (e.g. a total sum score based on all 20 items, using the 12 ‘best’ discriminatory items, etc.). Each scoring system was explored, although the pattern of results was the same for all. Using total symptom score on the 20 items of the ADC as a measure of ‘severity’ of dyslexia, Table 1 shows the statistically significant correlations (*) with FIT variables. The people who have more severe dyslexia have lower FIT Integrity scores, which is mainly due to Awareness and Fearlessness scores.
© Professor Ben (C) Fletcher, 2007
Table 1: Dyslexia symptoms and FIT scores Results based on all 20 dyslexia items.
Correlation coeffcient (r)
Probability that the result is due to chance
FIT Integrity & severity
-0.28
.023*
7.7%
Fearlessness & severity
-0.23
.058
5.4%
Awareness & severity
-0.33
.007*
11%
Variance accounted for
(p)
(r= a Pearson correlation; the ‘p’ value is level of statistical significance, or the likelihood that the observed relationship is due to chance; ‘variance accounted for’ measures how much of the change in one score can be predicted from the other)
Splitting the sample into ‘more severe dyslexia’ and ‘less severe dyslexia’ in terms of their ADC scores also produced statistical significant differences in their FIT Scores. The negative impact of dyslexia at the time of diagnosis was larger than the current negative impact (mean 7.9/10 score [SD = 1.9] v 5.6/10 [SD = 2.3] ). This suggests that people get used to the symptoms of dyslexia over time to some extent at least. Our results also confirmed that the severity of dyslexia (as measured by the ADC) was related to current negative impact scores ( the correlation was 0.41, accounting for 17% of the variance). The negative impact of dyslexia at first diagnosis did not relate to FIT levels. At first diagnosis the majority of individuals found dyslexia had a large negative impact and this was regardless of FIT levels. What is more interesting, however, is how the individual adjusts to cope with their dyslexia. Thus, the relationship between the current negative impact of dyslexia and FIT levels is more informative. Table 2 displays the relationships between FITness and the current negative impact of dyslexia. The relationships were strong, negative and significant for 3 of the FIT Constancies (Fearless, Self-Responsibility and Balance). The table shows that the higher the FIT score of a person the less the dyslexia affected their lives. In other words, dyslexia has a smaller negative impact on the lives of FITter individuals.
© Professor Ben (C) Fletcher, 2007
Table 2: Relationship between FIT Integrity subscales and perceptions of negative effect of dyslexia on current life . FIT variables
r
Sig.
% variance accounted for
FIT Integrity
-.50
0.001
25%
Awareness
-.21
0.09
4%
Fearlessness
-.38
0.001
15%
Self-Responsibility
-.41
0.001
17%
Balance
-.36
0.003
13%
Table 3 shows the relationships between the FIT scores and the changes in the negative impact of dyslexia over time. The Table chows that FITter individuals have fewer difficulties with their dyslexia now than when they were first diagnosed. Thus, individuals who had higher Fearlessness and Self-Responsibility scores showed significant improvement in how they adjusted and coped with their diagnosis of dyslexia. A similar trend was observed for Awareness and Balance although the relationships were less strong. Thus, FITter individuals showed greater positive improvements in how they coped with their diagnosis of dyslexia. Table 3: Relationship between FIT scores and change in negative impact of dyslexia. FIT variables
r
Sig.
% of variance accounted for
FIT Integrity
-.42
0.001
17.2%
Awareness
-.22
0.06
5.4%
Fearlessness
-.30
0.01
8.8%
Self-Responsibility
-.33
0.007
10%
Balance
-.24
0.05
5.9%
In general the group of people here were quite stressed. Thirty percent of them scored at marginal or unfit levels of anxiety and 31.3% at clinical or very unfit levels. In line with other FIT Reports, however, even in this anxious and dyslexic group, FITness did help since FITter individuals did have significantly lower levels of anxiety (the correlation r = -0.36, chance or probability level = 0.002).
© Professor Ben (C) Fletcher, 2007
Conclusion This study with a group of people with dyslexia, has shown that FIT Science measures do predict how well people seem to cope with dyslexia. There was evidence that people with higher levels of FIT reported less severe symptoms of dyslexia, and also they were also less affected currently by their dyslexia. There were also results suggesting that over time FITter people manage better with their dyslexia and also have lower levels of anxiety and stress. Of course, no causal relationships can be determined with a study of this kind. The results obtained here support the idea that FITter individuals are equipped with the cognitive and behavioural competencies that enable better coping and adjustment to negative life events over time. FITness levels can be improved with training and it would be interesting to see if changes to FITness levels affect how people view their dyslexia and the negative consequences it has for them. For the dyslexic individual, FIT Science suggests some dynamic benefits that may offer more than simple prophylactics. Although the dyslexia itself cannot be ‘cured’, the FIT framework may improve developing the cognitive and behavioural competencies that help minimise the negative impact of having the condition.
© Professor Ben (C) Fletcher, 2007
