Dyslexic pupils: Methods of recognition and diagnosis in the Algerian school environment

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dyslexia is a severe and lifelong difficulty in acquiring the mechanisms for learning to read. This disorder affects a category of normally educated children, of average or above average intelligence and without sensory deficits or serious emotional disturbances (Démont, 2006). However, dyslexia is the most common school problem. and would be the most important cause of failure and wastage.

  Indeed, the dyslexic child encounters repeated failures in his school curriculum, despite the efforts made. This will reinforce the gap between his level and that of his comrades and subsequently creates a feeling of incapacity.

  All of these negative experiences can have serious psychological and academic repercussions ranging from low self-esteem (El Hamoudi. 2010), frustration, stress to depression in some cases due to lack of adequate screening and diagnosis.

  This communication represents an attempt to identify and diagnose dyslexic children in an Algerian school context where we used a checklist as well as a version adapted to the Arabic language of the Alouette test by "LeFavrais" for the diagnosis of dyslexia.