Self-concept, creativity and developmental dyslexia in university students: effects of age of assessment

Educational experiences often influence self-concept. Thus, readers with dyslexia can have low self-esteem and self-efficacy, and perceive themselves as less intelligent than their peers. They may develop creativity to succeed despite their difficulties but findings are inconsistent and rarely consider the effect of age of assessment on self-perception. This study included 145 university students (Mage = 24.43 years), 72 with dyslexia; of these, 53% had been assessed in childhood (Mage = 11.89 years), 47% in adulthood (Mage = 27.38 years). A survey assessed self-esteem, self-efficacy, creativity and estimated intelligence. Students with dyslexia reported lower levels of self-esteem, self-efficacy and estimated intelligence. When assessment age was considered, those assessed early displayed lower self-esteem and self-efficacy but no difference in estimated intelligence. Those assessed late displayed lower estimated intelligence and self-esteem but no difference in self-efficacy. Findings highlight the importance of providing psychological support to students with dyslexia to enhance their self-perceptions

Developing an on-line undergraduate course in introductory psychology

In this article, we describe the process of developing a first and second edition of a professional, commercial,on-line course in introductory psychology. We review some of the advantages and disadvantages of on-line pedagogy and outline some of the contiguities and disparities between the original conception of the course and its actual development and execution. The article also outlines some potentially useful recommendations for other authors who are interested in using the Internet as a tool for developing and presenting similar pedagogical material

Meta-analytic findings reveal lower means but higher variances in visuospatial ability in dyslexia

Conflicting empirical and theoretical accounts suggest that dyslexia is associated with either average, enhanced, or impoverished high-level visuospatial processing relative to controls. Such heterogeneous results could be due to the presence of wider variability in dyslexic samples, which is unlikely to be identified at the single study level, due to lack of power. To address this, the current study reports a meta-analysis of means and variances in high-level visuospatial ability in 909 non-dyslexic and 956 dyslexic individuals. The findings suggest that dyslexia is associated not only with a lower mean performance on visuospatial tasks, but also with greater variability in performance. Through novel meta-analytic techniques, we demonstrate a negative effect size for mean differences (-.457), but a positive effect size for SD differences (+.118; SD ratio = 1.107). In doing so, this is the first study to demonstrate impoverished visuospatial processing of the majority of individuals with dyslexia in addition to greater variance in performance in this group. The findings advocate for further consideration of both the presence of, and reasons for, increased variance in perception, attention and memory across neurodevelopmental disorders

Evaluation of long-term counselling at a community health service for women who are on a low income

Aims. Given the lack of research evaluating long-term counselling, coupled with the lack of women-only counselling services, the present study evaluated the long-term counselling service offered by a women-only community health centre. Method. The research ascertained: 1) the characteristics of 155 service users pre-counselling, 2) the views and experiences of 75 service users post-counselling and 3) pre-post-counselling clinical change in 98 service users via the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation - Outcome Measure (CORE-OM). Results. Unemployment, low income and reports of abuse were related to poorer mental health as measured by the CORE-OM. Content analysis of open-ended questions revealed that women felt supported, comfortable and gained insight through the counselling relationship. They also reported positive changes in their lives, relationships, health behaviours, and psychological wellbeing. Post-counselling improvements were found in CORE-OM scores. Conclusions. Long-term counselling in a women-only environment for socially disempowered women may be beneficial. A research-informed approach to counselling and therapy evaluation, which acknowledges the social context of psychological distress, should be taken across institutions

Learning to perceive: informing pedagogic practice through the empirical study of drawing

This paper is the result of collaboration between psychologists with an interest in the cognitive processes underpinning drawing activity (Chamberlain, McManus and Brunswick), a dyslexia support tutor (Rankin) and an art school lecturer in drawing (Riley). It reports on a small-scale, ‘pilot’ workshop, designed to test the pedagogical strategies specifically designed for dyslexic students, with a cohort of volunteers from across the Royal College of Art, London

Talking the line: inclusive strategies for the teaching of drawing

The article reports on a series of drawing workshops held at the Royal College of Art (RCA), London, which tested an original pedagogical strategy designed to help dyslexic and/or dyspraxic art and design students who had reported difficulties with their abilities to make accurate representational drawings. A group of non-dyslexic/dyspraxic RCA students volunteered as control group, and both cohorts completed three days of workshops in the Drawing Studio of the RCA. Results of recorded interviews eliciting student observations as they drew, and a questionnaire in the form of a Likert scale, administered before and after the workshop, indicate positive shifts in both cohorts’ attitudes towards specific aspects of the stages involved in the production of accurate representational drawings of still-life set-ups, the human skeleton and the clothed life-model. Assessment of the drawings produced indicates positive shifts in the two cohorts in geometric accuracy and other qualitative criteria embedded in the teaching strategy such as control of scale, proportion and illusions of depth. Both cohorts displayed similar positive attitude shifts and both sets of drawings indicated similar positive shifts in visual qualities. An interim conclusion posits that the pedagogical strategy appears to enhance the abilities of both dyslexic/dyspraxic students and non-dyslexic/dyspraxic students to make accurate representational drawings. This result correlates closely with the findings of an earlier, prototype workshop held at the RCA in July 2012. It is suggested that similar pedagogically inclusive strategies might produce positive results in the context of secondary schools as part of a more inclusive curriculum

Scratching the surface: practice, personality, approaches to learning and the acquisition of high level representational drawing ability

Accurate representational drawing is a complex skill which underpins performance in many branches of the visual arts. Research suggests that expertise typically is acquired as a result of deliberate practice and a flexible approach to learning strategies. The current study investigated how, in art students, differences in the acquisition of observational drawing skill could be characterised using domain-general expertise accounts. A cohort of undergraduate and postgraduate art students (n=682) completed questionnaires about self-perceived artistic abilities, personality and approaches to learning. A subset completed tasks of actual drawing ability (n=301), the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) test and a performance IQ test. Actual drawing ability related to time spent drawing and drawing techniques, with additional independent predictive effects of both the copying and delayed ROCF test. Effects of personality were mainly mediated via learning styles, with surface learners spending more time drawing, learning fewer techniques and acquiring a lower level of actual skill. Deep learners learned more drawing techniques, and strategic (achieving) learners acquired a higher level of drawing skill overall. The resulting model of drawing ability development has the potential to be generalised over a range of creative and non-creative domains

Drawing on the right side of the brain: a voxel-based morphometry analysis of observational drawing

Structural brain differences in relation to expertise have been demonstrated in a number of domains including visual perception, spatial navigation, complex motor skills and musical ability. However no studies have assessed the structural differences associated with representational skills in visual art. As training artists are inclined to be a heterogeneous group in terms of their subject matter and chosen media, it was of interest to investigate whether there would be any consistent changes in neural structure in response to increasing representational drawing skill. In the current study a cohort of 44 graduate and post-graduate art students and non-art students completed drawing tasks. Scores on these tasks were then correlated with the regional grey and white matter volume in cortical and subcortical structures. An increase in grey matter density in the left anterior cerebellum and the right medial frontal gyrus was observed in relation to observational drawing ability, whereas artistic training (art students vs. non-art students) was correlated with increased grey matter density in the right precuneus. This suggests that observational drawing ability relates to changes in structures pertaining to fine motor control and procedural memory, and that artistic training in addition is associated with enhancement of structures pertaining to visual imagery. The findings corroborate the findings of small-scale fMRI studies and provide insights into the properties of the developing artistic brain

Inclusive Practice: researching the relationships between dyslexia, personality, and art students’ drawing ability.

This paper addresses the conference theme of inclusivity from two standpoints. Firstly, involving collaboration between researchers from fields including psychology, educational study support and studio drawing practice, which has revealed insights into students’ learning difficulties in drawing, which are not easily accessible through mono-disciplinary research practice. Secondly it involves a proposal outlining a strategy for the teaching of drawing which attempts to include students of varying abilities in drawing, and to empower their practice equally. The paper demonstrates the effectiveness of an inclusive, cross-disciplinary approach to exploring the relations between personality factors, perceptual problems, visual memory and drawing skills in art students who report difficulties producing accurate drawn representations of their observational experiences. Results indicate that whilst in general drawing ability seems not to relate to dyslexia, higher drawing ability does appear related to the personality measure of conscientiousness, and also both to sex (in the biological sense, males drawing better than females) and to gender (those who perceive themselves as more masculine drawing better, whether they are male or female). Poor drawers are less good at accurately copying angles and proportions, and their visual memory is less good. These findings inform a proposed inclusive group teaching strategy for drawing which attempts to address these weaknesses without hindering the progress of the more able student