Alarm bells. Red flags. A labyrinth.
These are just a few of the metaphors that mothers of children with dyslexia use to describe the journey from noticing their child’s literacy challenges to receiving a diagnosis and then advocating to secure services to help their children succeed. By paying attention to the images used in these metaphors, teachers and administrators can better understand the difficulties parents and children face and learn to be more responsive.
In 2021, as my child entered third grade, I was sure she had dyslexia – a learning disability that can affect reading, writing, spelling, memory and organization. For advice and encouragement, I turned to an online support group for parents of children with dyslexia, which affects between 3% and 7% of the population worldwide. I noticed that when the mothers in the group described their experiences in social media posts, they frequently used metaphors.
As a communication researcher, I wondered what lessons about this experience could be drawn from this use of metaphors – a figure of speech that makes an implied comparison, such as “heart of gold” or “a roller coaster of emotions.” I decided to find out. It turns out, the mothers’ metaphors not only reveal much about the challenges these parents face, but how to help them overcome those challenges as well.
Over a six-month period in 2022 and 2023, I analyzed 579 posts by members of the online support group. The posts, all written by mothers, were selected from thousands by eliminating those that simply shared resources or motivational quotes.
The mothers who posted were often overwhelmed by their child’s diagnosis. They wrote of........