Parents' Perceptions of a Later Learning Disability in Reading and the First Five Years of Life

Research suggests that a child's earliest interactions with parents and guardians have a profound effect on later social and educational development. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore perceptions of parents of children with diagnosed reading disabilities to better understand how the early home literacy environment may affect a child's later development as a reader. The participants included 3 mothers whose children had been assessed by their local public school as having a learning disability in reading. The Stony Brook Reading Survey was administered to the participants to record memories and perceptions of the reading and social environment in the home and their child's earliest reading interactions with texts. Follow-up interviews were used to clarify this information. Data were analyzed according to themes related to home literacy environment, social environment, and child's health. Results suggested that each parent followed best practices in preparing her child for elementary school in reading. Children's social engagement with family and peers, along with health histories, suggested no apparent effect on later reading deficiencies. As unexpected association was found within this small sample related to shared learning disabilities among siblings, suggesting that genetic factors cannot be ruled out as overriding influences on reading disabilities, even as parents follow best practices in home literacy during the earliest years of a child's development. This research contributes to positive social change by providing data that suggest a greater focus by researchers on interventions and prevention strategies for younger children when an older sibling has been identified as having a learning disability in reading.