Navigating complexity: Dyslexia screening and assessment practices among educational psychologists in Cape Town's private practices
type: CreativeWork
description: Dyslexia, classified as a specific learning disorder (SLD), remains a contentious debate globally and in South Africa, with varied conceptualisations among disciplines and stakeholders. Accurate diagnosis is complicated by the challenge of differentiating genuine learning disabilities from language proficiency issues in linguistically diverse settings. This complexity is exacerbated by a heavy reliance on Western-developed assessment tests that lack established local psychometric properties, contributing to the recognised validity-accessibility dilemma. While local research primarily focuses on culturally responsive practices related to cognitive measures or reading difficulties in general, international studies have developed comprehensive, dyslexia-specific assessment protocols and frameworks. However, systematic research examining how private practitioners navigate dyslexia-specific assessment in multilingual settings remains limited, particularly in the Cape Town context where English, Afrikaans, and isiXhosa coexist. This study addressed this critical gap by exploring how educational psychologists practising in private settings in Cape Town navigate the complexities of dyslexia screening and assessment within linguistically and culturally diverse contexts. Employing a qualitative, multiple case study design within an interpretive paradigm, the researcher utilised an integrated theoretical framework combining Bioecological Systems Theory and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory to analyse both systemic influences and practitioner agency. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and field notes from eight purposively sampled educational psychologists in the Cape Town metropolitan area. The findings revealed that practitioners utilise systematic, multi-modal assessment methodologies that adhere to DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria, relying heavily on qualitative integration and clinical judgement. However, they face overwhelming exosystemic …
abstract: Dyslexia, classified as a specific learning disorder (SLD), remains a contentious debate globally and in South Africa, with varied conceptualisations among disciplines and stakeholders. Accurate diagnosis is complicated by the challenge of differentiating genuine learning disabilities from language proficiency issues in linguistically diverse settings. This complexity is exacerbated by a heavy reliance on Western-developed assessment tests that lack established local psychometric properties, contributing to the recognised validity-accessibility dilemma. While local research primarily focuses on culturally responsive practices related to cognitive measures or reading difficulties in general, international studies have developed comprehensive, dyslexia-specific assessment protocols and frameworks. However, systematic research examining how private practitioners navigate dyslexia-specific assessment in multilingual settings remains limited, particularly in the Cape Town context where English, Afrikaans, and isiXhosa coexist. This study addressed this critical gap by exploring how educational psychologists practising in private settings in Cape Town navigate the complexities of dyslexia screening and assessment within linguistically and culturally diverse contexts. Employing a qualitative, multiple case study design within an interpretive paradigm, the researcher utilised an integrated theoretical framework combining Bioecological Systems Theory and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory to analyse both systemic influences and practitioner agency. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and field notes from eight purposively sampled educational psychologists in the Cape Town metropolitan area. The findings revealed that practitioners utilise systematic, multi-modal assessment methodologies that adhere to DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria, relying heavily on qualitative integration and clinical judgement. However, they face overwhelming exosystemic …
author: Blom, Helani
language: en
date published: 2026-03
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:40:14Z
provider: Stellenbosch University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University