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Dyslexia and the Visual- Spatial Talents: A Critical Review of New Difference- Oriented Research

Zahra Rajabpour Azizi, Mahnaz Akhavan Tafti, Maryam Mohsenpour 1. Ph. D Student in Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran 2. Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran 3. Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran


Introduction
Dyslexia is among the most common forms of specific learning disorders (SLD). In the Fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), SLD is included in the general category of neurodevelopmental disorders (1). The prevalence of dyslexia among children is about 4-10% of populations from different cultures (2). So far, most studies on the identification of dyslexia-related problems have been based on medical and deficit-oriented approaches, all of which emphasize the existence of defects and disorders (4)(5). However, over the past few decades, there has been growing research emphasizing that dyslexia does not necessarily mean impairment but it is a different form of mental processing and functioning, rooted in neurodiversity. There is also some emerging evidence that dyslexia is not associated with deficits only, but some individuals with dyslexia have visual-spatial strengths (13)(14). The idea that the visual-spatial ability of the right hemisphere may be associated with dyslexia was first proposed by Orton as cited by Akhavan Tafti, Heidarzad h and Khademi (15). Other researchers such as West (16) and Wang and Yang (17) believe that dyslexia is associated with some visual-spatial talents. Geschwind and Galaburda (18) have pointed to the greater number of people with dyslexia in occupations requiring visual-spatial skills and various professions such as arts, engineering, and architecture. Other researchers have also shown that individuals with dyslexia perform better than nondyslexic people in tests of impossible figures (20), virtual reality (23), creativity (42), and drawing skills (45).
Still, the limited empirical data on the visual-spatial abilities of people with dyslexia have yielded mixed results. The assumption that dyslexia is associated with higher visual-spatial ability needs to be examined more broadly and critically. Hence, this study aimed to provide a systematic review of experimental research investigating the visualspatial abilities of people with dyslexia. This study also intended to discuss the educational implications of previous research that may be beneficial to the development and adaptation of educational methods to support students with dyslexia.

Method
This descriptive critical review was conducted in several stages (formulating the research question, collecting the data, and analyzing and explaining the findings) based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) model. Extensive searches were performed in Iranian and international databases (SID, Magiran, Ensani, Civilica, Web of Science, ERIC, EBSCO, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Psych INFO) and Google Scholar, using the following keywords: dyslexia, reading disorder, reading disability, visual-spatial perception, spatial ability, creativity in dyslexia, nonverbal skills, neurodiversity, and difference-oriented approach. The papers published in credible journals from 1995 to 2019 were extracted from these databases. The initial search yielded 124 papers. At this stage, eight duplicates were omitted. Then, the titles and abstracts of the other 116 papers were reviewed, and 52 papers were eliminated since they did not meet the inclusion criteria. The remaining 64 papers were then inspected. At this stage, another 36 papers were excluded due to presenting insufficient information about the objectives of the research. Finally, 28 eligible papers were analyzed. All the authors assessed the quality of the selected papers, especially their methodology and findings. The inclusion criteria were: English or Persian quantitative studies that examined dyslexia, reading disorder, neurodiversity, and identifying the strengths / weaknesses of dyslexics. There were also articles examining visual-spatial abilities, creativity, and other competencies of dyslexics were not included in the search due to the exploratory nature of the topic, age range, educational level, participants' sex, and time range, but eventually such papers published after 1995 that were accessible were checked. The exclusion criteria were: papers that examined competencies in other groups of people with special needs; papers on other dimensions of dyslexia (e.g., neurofeedback; cognitive, meta-cognitive, or behavioral strategies, or dyslexia along with other and conference papers, meta-analyses, chapter summaries, and books.

Results
The search initially yielded 124 papers. Based on the titles and abstracts of the papers and considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria, after omitting the duplicate and irrelevant papers, 28 papers that were in line with the objectives of the study were reviewed and are presented here to compare the visual-spatial abilities of individuals with and without dyslexia. Participants' educational level: Out of the 35 studies reviewed, the participants were studying at the elementary school in 13 studies (37.1%), the middle school in two studies (5.7%), high school in five studies (14.3%), and both middle and high school (2.9%) in one research. Moreover, 13 studies recruited university students (37.1%). Thus, most of the studies focused on elementary school and university. Methods: Out of 35 studies, all of which were quantitative, 29 studies (82.9%) were conducted using the causal-comparative method, five studies (14.3) using correlational methods, and only one research (2.9) using the experimental method. Sampling method: The majority of studies (n=23, 65.7%) were conducted by convenience sampling, and only 4 (11.4%) studies were carried out by random sampling. Instruments: Various tests were employed for the identification and assessment of people with dyslexia. In the present review, only tests pertaining to visual-spatial abilities, creativity, and drawing skills that were in line with the objectives of this study were examined. Comparing the performance of individuals with and without dyslexia in visual-spatial tasks: In 18 tests (20.5%), the performance of participants with dyslexia was superior to that of participants without dyslexia. In 36 tests (40.9%), the difference in visual-spatial performance of individuals with and without dyslexia was not significant. In 34 tests (38.6%), the performance of participants with dyslexia was lower than their non-dyslexic counterparts. In most papers, several tests were used to measure visual-spatial ability. Overall, 88 tests in these 35 studies were used to assess the performance of the two groups.

Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to compare the visualspatial abilities of individuals with and without dyslexia. There is some research evidence that have emphasized on the existence of such abilities in individuals with dyslexia (15)(16)(17)(18). Although, such experimental evidence is statistically contradictory. The main question of the present study was whether individuals with dyslexia have superior visualspatial abilities? To answer this question, the related research from years 1995-2019 were reviewed critically within the study's framework. The findings show that the performance of participants with dyslexia was better in terms of the overall understanding of the whole image, holistic processing, representation of complex and impossible figures, faster reaction time (20), virtual reality tests (23), creativity tests (42) and drawing (45), compared to individuals without dyslexia. Nevertheless, evidence supporting the existence of visual-spatial talents in all visual-perceptual domains among individuals with dyslexia is still insufficient (20).Various research limitations were observed in the reviewed studies: the selection of samples with different developmental and educational levels and different age ranges, and employing varied methodologies and assessment tools in each study, which may explain the inconsistencies in results. Thus, more studies are required in order to find a more precise cognitive profile of the strengths and weaknesses of the target group. Based on the findings of this review, one cannot expect people with dyslexia to have and demonstrate superior creative and visual-spatial skills. Still, by taking into account their cognitive profile and strengths and weaknesses based on the differenceoriented approach, better educational conditions and interventions can be provided to them. Furthermore, by using three-dimensional tools, educational and artistic software, and the multisensory structured approach, the educational setting can be tailored to the needs of the dyslexics. The majority of studies reviewed here included a control group, and no within-group study was found.