Critical realist discourse analysis of Chinese parents of children with dyslexia

Abstract

There is a dearth of research concerning parental discourses on dyslexic children and the particular educational context in which they occur. Dyslexia can be viewed as a socially constructed condition, different from its medical definition. Critical realist discourse analysis (CRDA), which emphasises the discovery of the underlying structure and causation of observed events, can facilitate the exploration of its complexities and the multiple underlying mechanisms at work. This article reports on a study, using CRDA to reveal stories that are rarely heard, the interacting factors embedded in the school environment, and the implications for social work practices.

Keywords

Education learning parents schools students

Dyslexia is a childhood developmental disorder, and dyslexic children have problems with reading, writing, sequential learning and phonological processing (Henderson and Warmington, 2017; Lyon et al., 2003). Some dyslexic children have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a comorbid disorder (Boada et al., 2012). A study conducted by Shenzhen University revealed a prevalence rate of 5 percent to 18 percent in Shenzhen, Southern Guangdong province (South China Daily Press, 2018). According to Ho et al. (2004), Chinese students with dyslexia often have problems in rapid naming and phonological and visual processing. Deficits in reading and writing may be related to underlying problems in motor planning and orthographic awareness (Chan et al., 2006). Chinese dyslexic students find it hard to distinguish between and handle the complexity of stroke sequences and character structure (Chow et al., 2003).

Under the Compulsory Education Law, Chinese students with disabilities have the right to receive an education (Deng and Harris, 2008). According to the ‘China Children’s Development Report-2019 Children’s Off-campus Living Conditions’ (Sina, 2019), more than 66 percent of children participated in various types of extracurricular classes in order to improve their grades and master knowledge or learning methods. Therefore, the quality of inclusive education is questioned (Feng, 2010). Although whole-person quality education (suzhi jiaoyu) is advocated in the educational field, the academic culture remains elitist and achievement oriented (Gao and Kennedy, 2011).

There is a discourse circulating in Chinese society: Kǎo kǎo kǎo lǎoshī de fǎbǎo, fēn fēn fēn xuéshēng de mìnggēn (Test and exam are teacher’s magic weapon, marks and scores are the student’s life; China Science Daily, 2018). This forms a highly controlled and competitive environment that enables unified and standardised management to be implemented. Since children with dyslexia are typically low-performing students, they are vulnerable in this competitive academic environment. Xu et al. (2018) explain this as the result of a school culture that places great importance on compliance.

The symptoms of dyslexia are more likely to be detected in school or family environments. Currently, school social work services are provided in primary and secondary schools in some large cities in Mainland China (Liu and Hu, 2012). School social workers often use the strength-based approach for counselling (Yao, 2008), wherein they discover the distinctive strengths of dyslexic students and motivate them to develop their potential. Moreover, a number of community programmes and public seminars are organised by social work organisations to raise public awareness of dyslexia (Commercial Daily, 2019). The messages that ‘dyslexia is not a deficit’, ‘dyslexia is not the end’ and ‘dyslexic children are smart children’ have been publicised in the community through the media (Shenzhen News, 2016). Along with these public programmes, social workers perform the role of advocates (Sohu, 2017). They have also designed a range of school-based and community-based learning activities for dyslexic children (Su and Shu, 2014). In order to ensure that children receive adequate support, social workers work with government leaders and academic professionals to promote the rights of dyslexic children.

A critical realist discourse analysis (CRDA) provides a framework for understanding parental discourses around dyslexia in educational contexts. Since the current situation faced by Chinese dyslexic children and their parents remains unknown, people may not be aware of the problems associated with the interacting factors, including the institutional system, educational culture, school curriculum, teachers’ attitudes, parents’ expectations and students’ rights. In light of the research gaps, this study aims to (a) explore rarely heard stories, (b) investigate the interacting factors embedded in the school and (c) reveal implications for social work practice.

Literature review

Critical realism and dyslexia

A critical-realist explores the actual event (what actually occurs or happens), the experienced event (how a problem is perceived by a person) and the reality (the causal mechanism underlying these events) (Bhaskar, 2014). Critical realism recognises the existence of a number of contextual factors that may influence the relationship between the events. There are three different levels to understanding the discourse on dyslexia.

The actual events experienced by dyslexic students

They seldom participate in classroom activities (McNulty, 2003). The teachers only give limited reading and writing instruction for dyslexic students with limited comprehension skills (Madigan, 2006).

The experienced events and how problems are perceived by dyslexic students

They feel powerless because they are excluded from classroom practices (McNulty, 2003). They feel that they have fewer opportunities to learn (Landis and Moje, 2003).

The real and causal mechanisms underlying these events

These mechanisms, especially in a school system, include the following: (a) classroom culture, that is, the dominant classroom discourse of ‘normal’ behaviour (Raid, 2019), (b) social perception, that is, students with dyslexia are not viewed as experienced language users or active participants in the classroom (Landis and Moje, 2003), (c) educational right – that is, the right to learning – is impeded across different groups of students (Macdonald, 2013) and (d) teachers’ knowledge and understanding of dyslexia is limited (Regan and Woods, 2000).

Critical realism facilitates the consideration of the contextual factors that may influence the meaning-making process (Sims-Schouten and Riley, 2019).

Discourse in educational settings

The three common approaches to discourse analysis in educational settings are interactional, critical and functional (Adger and Wright, 2015). The interactional approach focuses on social interaction and turn-taking patterns in classrooms (Green and Wallat, 1981), the ways teachers facilitate students’ engagement in academic discussions (O’Connor and Michaels, 1996), and the complex cognitive and social relations behind classroom interactions (Erickson, 1996). The critical approach seeks to understand discourse as an ‘instrument of power within the school context’ (Adger and Wright, 2015: 862). This approach uses various methods to identify how children’s discourses are linked to larger institutional discourses. The relevance of classroom discourses and social inequalities is one of the major concerns in this approach (Rymes, 2009). According to Rogers and Schaenen (2014), critical discourse studies in the Asian educational field concern texts and dialogues in the context of school. For instance, Kumagai’s (2007) study explores literacy events in Japanese classroom interactions, especially the grammar of the interactions. The functional approach focuses on the technical ways of using language in different social contexts, such as the differences in the language used in different classrooms (Janzen, 2008).

Contemporary western studies about discourse in educational settings concern the relationship between classroom management and classroom discourse (Morine-Dershimer, 2006), the level of students’ participation in classroom discourse (Molinari and Mameli, 2013), the occurrence of open discussion in the classroom (Applebee et al., 2003), the diversity of cultural differences and the language used in the classroom (Lee, 2006) and the participation of second language learners in classroom interactions (Bunch, 2009). Clark and Gieve’s (2006) work is concerned with discourse in the Chinese educational setting; they study the relationship between Confucian cultural heritage and the characteristics of Chinese learners by exploring learners’ discourses.

The purpose of this study is to use a critical lens to discover language in context. Here, the term context means the situational context leading to the occurrence of discourses. Context analysis increases the understanding of the meaning of discourses (Song, 2010). With regard to the educational context, this study does not simply explore the classroom discourse, but also analyses the contexts in which the meaning of the discourses can be better understood. Furthermore, an attempt has been made to examine how power is related to the teachers’ words and how these discourses reproduced educational structures.

Method

Informed consent was obtained from the participants. Ethics approval was granted from the Caritas Institute of Higher Education Research Ethics Committee. The primary aim of the study was exploratory. The study participants were recruited from a child assessment centre in X city, which is located in the southern part of Mainland China. A total of 13 parents (1 pair of participants included both the father and the mother; 1 participant was a father; 10 participants were mothers) were interviewed. They were the parents of 12 children, ranging in age from 7–12 years, who had been diagnosed with dyslexia (five of them have dyslexia only) and comorbid disorders (seven of them have dyslexia and ADHD). This information was provided by the parents and the medical doctor of the centre. Ten of the children were boys and two were girls. Most attended mainstream primary schools. The participants came from small nuclear families, and no particular financial difficulty was reported. Ten lived in the city and two in a small village. Only the parents were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews, focusing on the students’ school lives, parental stress, daily parent-child interaction, parental support, school environment and teachers’ attitudes, were conducted in an interview room in a training centre. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed. Each interview lasted around 60 minutes.

CRDA as a tool for analysis

According to Sims-Schouten and Riley (2019), CRDA has three phases. The first phase involves identifying and examining the possible factors that may influence peoples’ sense-making. In the literature and document review, special attention was given to the school culture and environment. The second phase involves developing methods for data collection. The literature review laid a good foundation, which then informed the interview questions. In particular, the researchers were sensitive to the contextual dimension of the interviews and ensured that the participants responded to the possible factors influencing their sense-making. This involved clarifying what was said, such as dealing with the ambivalence and inconsistencies in the participants’ replies. The third phase involves the identification of key discursive repertoires across the data sets, with special attention given to discursive patterns, emotional content, key tensions and special stories (Wetherell, 2013). Using a critical-realist perspective, the interactions among discursive and extra-discursive factors were analysed. The interview transcripts were coded for recurring themes such as exam-oriented education and supportive and unsupportive teacher’s attitudes.

Data analysis

General characteristics of the participants

All of the children were diagnosed with either just dyslexia or comorbid disorders of dyslexia and ADHD. The reported problems included poor attention and issues with maths, reading speed and comprehension, writing speed, dictation and letter reversals, tests and exams, and homework completion. The symptoms were often discovered by teachers and parents. Language development problems were identified in some of the children in nursery, and most students were diagnosed prior to the age of 10. Following the diagnosis, some parents communicated with teachers, but others were afraid to disclose this information to teachers. The common emotional issues experienced by the parents were stress, emotional disturbance, anger and depressive moods.

Findings

Discourses related to the school system

Exam-oriented education (yingshi jiaoyu)

The characteristics of the exam-oriented education system were revealed through exploring the parents’ discourses. Dyslexic students cannot benefit from the exam-oriented education system because exam skills rely heavily on memorisation and writing. The curriculum is restricted by the exam requirements, and the teachers often focus on enhancing the exam skills of the students.

Mrs K said that her son could not get the grade she hoped for because of his bad memory and nervousness:

Mrs K: I know he has made the effort, but I think that he is very nervous, he may be afraid of writing. He often gets 80 marks in a language exam. Apparently, this is a bad score. My son is anxious because the written exam relies on memory and writing. He cannot remember the correct answer to the exam questions.

Mrs L was a working mother of two boys, aged 11 and 9. Her youngest son, who had been diagnosed with dyslexia, was in primary three. She revealed that her husband had high expectations of their son. In particular, he hoped that the son could get good scores in exams. Mrs L said that this expectation was unrealistic:

Mrs L: My husband has relatively high expectations. For example, if my son scores 80 in this exam, his father will ask him if he can get 90 next time. I just think that my son has no self-confidence and the pressure comes from parents. Because of the exam-oriented culture in school, many parents force their children to achieve better scores. I think this is unrealistic because I understand that studying now is very hard for him.

The discourses of the parents revealed that school teachers pay attention to excellent students and neglect the low performers. Under exam-oriented education, standardised tests are considered to be the best method for measuring how well a student learns. Naturally, parents will push their children to score higher in exams. However, excessive parental aspiration can be disastrous. These unrealistic expectations are related to the exam-oriented culture and society’s expectations about children’s achievements.

Supportive versus unsupportive teacher’s attitude

The discourse on ‘problematic behaviour’ and ‘problematic children’ is reinforced and reproduced in the school system because disruptive behaviour is unacceptable in the classroom. Even one student’s disruptive behaviour will impede the learning of other students. This discrimination is repeated daily in normal classrooms. These false concepts result from placing too much emphasis on the expectation that a child should ‘behave well’ in the classroom. Without taking into account the special learning needs of a student, a class of 70 students is a poor arrangement.

Mrs B was a full-time mother of a 7-year-old boy studying in primary one, who had been diagnosed with hyperactivity and attention deficit. Mrs B received complaints about her son from his teacher from time to time. Her son was viewed as ‘a problematic student’ in the eyes of teachers, and they failed to investigate the underlying reasons behind his behaviour. Most of the time, the teachers scolded her son in front of the whole class. It was a shameful situation, and many classmates refused to play with him:

Mrs B: At the beginning, the teacher’s attitude was better. But then it became worse and worse, because the teacher himself had to take care of 70 children in the class. It was very hard for her to maintain class discipline. The teacher often gives me phone call. Every time I listened to the teacher’s complaints, I was very nervous and I felt so annoyed. She often punishes my son because he distracts his classmates in class. She consider my son as a problematic student. Other children don’t like to play with him. My son has a feeling of inferiority.

Compared to the other parents, Mrs H did not seem to experience much psychological pressure, although this does not imply that her son’s problem was solved or less severe. The biggest difference was that the teachers were more friendly towards her. Although the teachers had to manage a large class and were evaluated according to their students’ academic scores, they were still willing to respond differently to the learning style of her son. Mrs H’s discourses suggest that it is vital for teachers to be aware of the signs of dyslexia in their students. In this case, the training received by the teacher on special education enabled her to find inclusive solutions for students with special learning needs:

Mrs H: The teacher is positive. She understands my son’s condition although there is not a lot she can do to help him. Because she has a class of 50 students, she cannot properly make adjustments for my son’s learning needs. Anyway, she has acknowledged that my son has his strengths. She is willing to respond differently to his learning style. I know the teacher has received some training in special education and this has enhanced her understanding of my child.

Extra support offered to dyslexic children

The discourses of some parents reflect schools’ efforts to move from exam-oriented education to whole-person education, which may be just the first step in changing the rigid educational system. The initial attempt involves offering extra support to dyslexic children by providing interesting courses or adjusting the curriculum. However, the implementation of whole-person education requires a substantial investment of resources from the school, including professional development, education policy and advocacy. Because many teachers still do not know how to help students with dyslexia, the provision of short-term quality education courses has little effect on students.

Mrs C was a single, working mother of an 11-year-old girl in primary five, who was easily distracted and had difficulties with writing. Her academic performance was poor, and she could not keep up with students of the same age. Mrs C said that the teachers arranged special courses for children who could not read and write properly. Furthermore, arrangements were made for these students to attend different, interesting classes, such as art, music and science. However, these courses only lasted for a semester. Her daughter’s school was friendly to poor readers, and Mrs C had no negative criticism of the teachers or school policies:

Mrs C: School teachers arranged special courses for children who cannot read and write. My daughter also took these courses. These courses provided extra support to my daughter. However, she could only take part in one semester. Maybe the school did not have enough resources, and the teacher doesn’t know how to help those students in long term.

Mrs M has an 11-year-old girl who had trouble with maths and language. She could not keep up with the school’s learning progress or complete the assigned homework. Mrs M said that the teachers arranged special courses for children who had special educational needs. Mrs M indicated that the school’s principle was willing to invest resources in integrated education. She appreciated the extra support provided by the school:

Mrs M: School teachers arrange special courses for children who have special education needs. They arrange students in special classes two or three sessions a week. Special classes include drum class, lego building blocks class, math tutoring class and language tutoring class. These courses are free of charge and are funded by the District Education Bureau. I need to submit a hospital diagnosis report to the school and fill out a form if I want my girl to participate in these special classes. My daughter has participated in these courses for one year. The school principle is an open-minded people and supports the integrated education. He is willing to invest resources in integrated education.

Parents’ expectations versus teachers’ expectations

The findings indicate that there were conflicts between the parents’ expectations and teachers’ expectations. The teachers believed that in the principle of fairness, each student should do the same amount of homework. However, the parents believed that the teachers should adjust the quantity of homework according to the abilities of each student.

Mrs W said her son was anxious and frustrated when copying. Her son was a 9-year-old boy who had trouble with writing, reading and copying. Mrs W revealed the teachers’ expectations from the parents’ perspective and said that teachers expected her son to do the same amount of homework as the other students. They refused to reduce the amount of homework for her son. Mrs W said she was very disappointed because the teachers gave her son additional homework as punishment for not finishing the assigned homework:

Mrs W: I think that it is teacher’s problem. Teachers think that all students in the class should be able to finish the same amount of homework. It’s even worse if he can’t finish the homework, he has to copy it ten or twenty times. I think that the teachers expect my son to perform as good as other students and expect him to finish the same amount of homework. However, I cannot agree with the teacher’s viewpoint. I think that my son is different from other students and he really needs extra help and support. Moreover, he needs adjustment of homework quantity and the teachers cannot expect him to perform the same as other students.

Mr X was the father of a 10-year-old boy who had trouble with writing and wrote very slowly and impatiently. Mr X said that there was no way to make his son write faster. He reported that his wife often lost her temper at their son’s writing problem. They talked to the teacher but could not successfully convince the teacher to reduce the amount of homework:

Mr X: Because my son has too much homework, he writes very slowly and he cannot go to sleep until twelve o’clock. Sometimes if he does not finish the homework, he then gets up at five o’clock to continue writing. It seems that he has endless homework every day. I have tried using rewards to encourage my son to write faster. For example, he likes football, I promise that if he writes faster, I will take him to play football. However, he still writes slowly. His mother is very angry with his writing speed. We try to talk to the teacher, hoping that the teacher will give our son less homework. But we fail to convince the teacher to reduce the amount of homework. It is because the teachers expect my son to do the same amount of homework as other students.

Mrs E also encountered the same problem because her son wrote very slowly and could not complete written assignments. However, Mrs E said she was fortunate enough to meet what she described as a gentle teacher, who advised Mrs E to relax and accept her son’s problem:

Mrs E: My son goes to bed at twelve o’clock every night because he writes very slowly. I see his classmates can finish their homework at around seven o’clock at night. Compare to his classmates, my son writes very slowly. Sometimes he even cannot complete one assignment. I feel anxious and I have talked to the teacher. I feel I am lucky to meet a teacher who doesn’t have high expectations of my child. She allows my son to submit fewer homework assignments. The teacher advises me to relax and accept my son’s problem. The teacher said that if he cannot finish the homework, I don’t need to force him.

The greatest problem encountered by the parents on a daily basis was supervising the written assignments of their children. They all talked to the teachers about the problem of homework but received different responses as the teachers appeared to have different expectations of the children’s performances. Some teachers appeared to have very little knowledge of dyslexia. It can be seen that if the teacher’s view is very different from that of the parents, it will cause more stress for the children and their parents.

Discourses related to family

The discourse of the father and the mother

Although only two fathers participated in the interviews, it could be observed that the fathers and mothers appeared to adopt different approaches to their children’s learning problems. It was interesting to find that the two fathers adopted relatively soft and innovative methods.

Mr G and Mrs G came with their three sons (aged 13, 10 and 4). The two eldest sons were diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit. Mr G spoke less, and Mrs G knew more about the child’s situation. Mrs G described herself as a strict, authoritarian mother and Mr G as a firm, authoritative father. Mrs G hoped to fulfil the expectations of teachers and used punishment and strict rules. Mr G was a businessman and believed that his child did not need to work hard for academic success:

Mrs G: Yes, sometimes I break down. I cry because I am worried. I know that I have emotions. Sometimes I beat my son but I regret it later. His elder brother has similar reading and writing problem. I really feel exhausted. I expect him to try his best to finish his homework and study hard. I don’t expect him to get any good grade, but at least he has to do his best.

Mr G: I don’t worry too much, because I am doing business myself. I think that children have many types of work to choose in the future. I don’t expect him to get any good grade.

Another father, Mr X, also said that his wife was irritable and anxious about their child’s issues with studies. Both parents had to work. Mr X described himself as positive and optimistic, but described Mrs X as more worried and feeling helpless:

Mr X: Basically, my wife guides the child to complete the homework. But if I have time, I will teach the child to do homework. I also want to learn some ways to teach my child. My expectations are not as high as those of my wife. I just hope that he can read and write normally. Mom is more worried than me. We hire a tutor but the situation does not improve. Mom just accompanies the child and urges him to write faster. The child doesn’t follow mother’s instruction.

Discussion

The three levels of the critical-realist perspective

The critical-realist perspective describes the participants’ discourses in the wider sociocultural and institutional structures. There are three different levels to understanding dyslexia through the discourses of parents.

The actual events experienced by the dyslexic students and their parents

These include the following: (a) the education system in Mainland China emphasises the importance of exam-oriented education, (b) the time in a class is used for learning and preparing for examination, (c) improper behaviour is not allowed in class, (d) students are expected to work hard for success and get good grades in exams, (e) teachers will focus on students who can get good grades in exams, (f) mostly, no special teaching arrangements are made for the dyslexic students except in some schools with better arrangements in inclusive education.

The experienced events and how a problem is perceived by the dyslexic students and their parents

These include the following: (a) parents feel powerless because their requests, such as the request for less homework, are often rejected by the teachers, (b) parents feel that their children are criticised and labelled as ‘problematic students’, (c) parents feel that their children cannot benefit from the exam-oriented education system because exam skills rely heavily on memorisation and writing, (d) some parents have high expectations of their children, such as getting good grades in exams, which are unrealistic, (e) parents feel that the teachers only pay attention to the excellent students and neglect the low performers.

The real and causal mechanisms underlying all these events

These mechanisms, especially in a school system, include the following: (a) the unrealistic expectations of the parents and teachers are related to the exam-oriented culture and society’s expectations about children’s achievements, (b) the default classroom practices stress the importance of ‘conformity’, which involves changing behaviours and fitting into a large group. The students are expected to behave like the majority of the students in the classroom and have to be perceived as ‘normal’ by the other students. This creates an impression that dyslexic students are ‘stupid’, ‘problematic’ and ‘have difficulty following teachers’ instructions’, (c) the lack of educational resources and inadequate supply of properly trained teachers are the reasons behind large class sizes and the insufficient support provided to dyslexic children, (e) the different perceptions of values of fairness, equality and children’s responsibility, to name a few, also contribute to this, (f) parents have little awareness about their conforming behaviour – they act according to social expectations about good grades, and lack the power and courage to advocate, for instance, for their children’s right to have their homework adjusted.

In conclusion, the causal mechanisms continue to influence the experiences of dyslexic children and their parents, causing them to doubt the value of their children. Parents and teachers create the content of the discourses, but the school system reinforces and reproduces them. Popular school discourses construct good students as those who achieve good academic results and do not need extra support from the teachers. Moreover, a ‘good parent’ is seen as one who supports their child’s learning at home. Often, the institutional factors causing discrimination are ignored or neglected in the school environment. The critical-realist perspective looks at the interplay of power and school ideology in parents’ discourses. It analyses discourses within the linguistic contexts of schools.

Although the dominant discourses become routine in the school context, some teachers still attempt to change the inequities in school. The discourse of Mrs H uncovered that some school teachers adopted a friendly attitude towards her son and responded differently to his learning style. Mrs H attributed these friendly attitudes to the teacher’s increased awareness and knowledge of dyslexia. It is vital to understand that the different educational backgrounds and working experiences of teachers may also affect how they perceive and understand dyslexia. Some parents like Mrs M and Mrs C received extra support from school teachers despite the fact that most parents interviewed in this study felt helpless about their children’s situations. The different experiences encountered by Mrs H, Mrs M and Mrs C reveal different discursive practices in the school system.

Therefore, the causal mechanisms underlying these different discursive practices may be caused by the different policies and practices of different school systems. The underlying values of whole-person education and elite education, which are circulating in schools, must be considered and analysed.

Implications for social work practice

The implications of these findings for social work practice are reflected in three aspects. First, social workers can strengthen the parent support programme to ensure that parents receive psychological support. The interplay between parental stress and the school system reveals a vicious cycle in which parents put too much pressure on their children to achieve good academic results, further decreasing the children’s self-confidence and eventually increasing their avoidance any learning activity. The participants described their stressful feelings as a state of anxiety and nervousness. The assessment process, competitive system, parental pressure and students’ difficulties are interrelated and contribute to the problems in complex ways that cannot be clearly articulated. If parents develop strategies for managing stress, such as meditation, talking to friends, listening to music and reading books, they can cope with the pressures around them, feel better and cultivate a positive attitude towards their children. The findings also show that the parents’ support is associated with spousal support; parents getting spousal support may lead to better mental health.

Second, international studies suggest that school social workers help meet the needs of dyslexic students. The extra support provided by social workers helps alleviate the stress from the teachers. The next step is to strengthen the role of social workers in the school setting, with a particular focus on how the needs of dyslexic children are understood by the school teachers and school leaders. The discourses of Mrs C and Mrs M clearly indicate that their children received extra support in schools. Their experiences can be explained by differences in the schools’ directions and the teachers’ perception of the children’s needs. Dedicated social workers may go the extra mile and facilitate educational reform.

Third, the findings reveal that the assumptions society takes for granted may not be true. According to Humphrey and Mullins (2002), children’s school experiences will be different because of the different policies and practices of different schools. For example, ‘whole-person quality education (suzhi jiaoyu)’, which is circulating in society, needs to be implemented. The elitist and achievement-oriented academic culture has to be questioned. Local Chinese literature reveals that the social workers in Mainland China are willing to advocate for the rights of dyslexic children in community services. They publicise messages such as ‘dyslexic children are smart children’ through the media. These activities can support the new discourse, which can promote equality of opportunity for differently abled children.

Conclusion

Critical realism recognises the existence of both an objective reality and subjective interpretations of the situation. Some parents receive more positive support from teachers and family members, while others encounter negative comments and actions from teachers. Different parents experience problematic events differently. Critical realism suggests that a number of underlying mechanisms are at work that may influence parents’ subjective feelings and experiences. A critical-realist approach enables this study to provide a rich description and explanation of the contextual factors.

Further studies could be conducted in other Asian countries with cultures similar to that of Mainland China. According to Lim (2007), Korean parents are affected by a culture that stresses the importance of academic achievement. The causal mechanisms underlying this culture could be further explored through the critical-realist perspective. It is recommended that social workers across the globe explore parent discourses in the wider sociocultural and institutional structures.

The limitation of this study is that other conditions for sense-making discovered in the parents’ discourses are not adequately examined. In addition to the school setting, further investigation is needed to discover whether the stories of children with dyslexia will appear again in other social and community settings. Therefore, further exploration in different settings is recommended in order to ensure that the voices and views of children can be heard and listened to.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iDs

Kitty Yuen-han Mo

Simon Tak-Mau Chan

Author biographies

Kitty Yuen-han Mo writes extensively in the area of social work supervision, social work service in Mainland China and the topics about children with special educational needs and the parents.

Simon Tak-Mau Chan, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Social Work at Hong Kong Baptist University. His research interests are the family therapy process, men-in-trauma and special educational needs.

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