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Dyslexia diagnoses can provide a vital explanation for and open opportunities for support. However, when misunderstood, they may reinforce a deficit perspective and lower expectations (Knight, 2025). Evidence from studies (Beckett, 2024; Karni-Visel et al., 2024; Sreeja, 2025) suggests that many young people possess limited understanding of dyslexia as a learning difference, including provided support systems: rather, they appeared to have internalised dyslexia as a negative label reinforced by peers and social media misinformation. Parental understanding of disability also appeared to be limited (Sreeja, 2025), while many teachers lack adequate skills and to address these learning differences.

Drawing from my experience while serving as an inclusive education practitioner in a high school in the United Kingdom, a pupil once said ‘I can’t be bothered, I am dyslexic’ while being supported during close reading. While this example is not intended to represent all, it suggests a potential misconception of dyslexia (Knight, 2025). This blog post outlines how identity, motivation and pedagogical scaffolding can help improve pupils’ understanding about dyslexia, and ultimately shape their attitude towards positive self-belief and higher academic expectations.

‘Many young people possess limited understanding of dyslexia as a learning difference … and have internalised dyslexia as a negative label reinforced by peers and social media misinformation.’

Dyslexia

involves conversations about the nature of dyslexia, focusing on both the challenges and the associated strengths, with the intent of transitioning pupils from being a passive recipient of a label to an active agent in their own personal journey (Haslam, et al., 2019). A suitable example is the use of regular . These sessions could explain new research findings about dyslexia in simple ways to pupils, promoting self-knowledge and answering the questions: Who am I? What are my abilities? What works best for me?

is the process of consciously raising awareness of pupils that academic and professional successes are not achieved solely through innate ability but by effort as well (Cho et al., 2023). The aim of this scaffold is to nurture the pupils to have a growth mindset and tackle low self-esteem through motivational-based interventions such as effort modelling and setting achievable goals. An example is the showcasing movies and documentaries on individuals who have achieved success through conscious efforts and strategies.

involves supporting pupils to reflect on learning barriers and strategies that work for them (Bowles et al., 2018). The aim is to improve access to learning. For example, the use of image storyboards can break down essay writing into a sequence of small, visual steps. The become a tool for brainstorming ideas, sequencing them and then writing one sentence per image. Structured approaches that incorporate touching, movement, sight and sound could also be used to assist pupils in reducing while maintaining learning. These supported reflective practices could help identify what works best for individual learners.

Figure 1: Dyslexia scaffolding framework

Conclusion

The relevance of this scaffolding framework extends beyond any individual pupil, classroom or educational system. It resonates with studies that highlight trends in dyslexia support. Therefore, the transition of pupils from growing misconception of diagnosis to critical awareness requires a deliberate effort in applying this framework by teachers, educational practitioners, parents and carers for promoting an inclusive education practice that empowers pupils to understand their own learning profile. For future research direction, there could be the need to evaluate the longitudinal efficacy of the approaches of this framework on adult outcomes, and to explore how diverse cultural perceptions impact a pupil’s transition to critical awareness.

References

Beckett, J. (2024). Dyslexia: ‘The right diagnosis … The wrong treatment’. Support for Learning, 39, 71–84.

Bowles, D., Radford, J., & Bakopoulou, I. (2018). Scaffolding as a key role for teaching assistants: Perceptions of their pedagogical strategies. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 499–512. Ìý

Cho, E., Roberts, G. J., Capin, P., Roberts, G., & Vaughn, S. (2023). Motivational practices in reading interventions for students with or at risk for dyslexia: Literature synthesis and meta-analysis. Topics in Language Disorders, 43(2), 119–145.

Haslam, C., Haslam, S. A., Cruwys, T., & Maughan, D. (2019). Social scaffolding: Supporting the development of positive social identities and agency in communities. In R. Williams, V. Kemp, S. A. Haslam, C. Haslam, K. S. Bhui, & S. Bailey (Eds.), Social scaffolding: Applying the lessons of contemporary social science to health and healthcare (pp. 244–256). Cambridge University Press.

Karni-Visel, Y., Baum, N., & Schertz, M. (2024). Understanding autism and its treatment: The child’s perspective, Social Science & Medicine, 354, Article 117066.

Knight, C. (2025). Dyslexia: Identity, labelling and its place in inclusive education. British Journal of Special Education, 52, 251–257. ÌýÌý

Sreeja, P. S. (2025). Adolescents’ self-perception and understanding of learning disability: A qualitative study from Kerala. International Journal of Interventional Psychology, 1(01), 90–101. ÌýÌý