Hello and thank you for joining me for a Q&A with Sam Hepburn.
Sam Hepburn is a children and families social worker working in Scotland. As part of their social work qualification, they completed a research piece titled The influence and impacts of dyslexia on social work practice.
Sam has kindly answered some questions we asked them about their thesis.
Why did you choose to focus on the impact and influence of dyslexia on social work practice?
When choosing my thesis I chose dyslexia as a focus, the main reason was that I am an advocate for the strengths dyslexia presents and also because it impacts me personally, I find learning and reading about it interesting.
From doing some background research there was little research in the field specific to social work. Therefore, I wanted to bring my passion and experiences into research and seek others' experiences and see what comes of it.
I equally had my own challenges in the workplace, not relating to social work so I was keen to explore that with others. And I think the final reason that I choose to focus on dyslexia was down to an experience in uni and one of the professors.
So, for me, learning analysis has been and is an ongoing and long slog. When I applied for my master's following my completion of my undergrad, I read that the main difference between undergrad and master's was the need to be analytical.
This in itself filled me with dread. And then, along comes the results of my second essay, big fat fail. I was heartbroken in that instant I convinced myself I couldn't do it, I couldn't pass.
I told myself I wasn't intelligent enough. It occurred to me not long after that despite me verbally telling anyone who listened that dyslexia does not impact intelligence I was clearly still living under that stigma that it did.
I had already had the idea in my head, but I spoke to the professor at length who had failed me and he helped me to build my skills and became my personal tutor. So I wanted to prove to myself and others that dyslexia is a strength and what better way to do it than to do a thesis on the subject to share with the world? (I completed my master's with distinction!)
2. How did you find writing a thesis on dyslexic social workers?
My experience of writing my thesis was that of largely enjoyable, I did give myself 6 months to write it so I wasn't impacted by time.
I found there to be a lot of research on the subject but very little focused on qualified social workers. I found the structure of a thesis suited my own writing needs.
It was without a doubt a gruelling and hard task but nonetheless, it was enjoyable. So much so that I constantly come back to the idea of doing a doctorate. I have developed some good professional relationships from doing my thesis.
3. What were the findings of your research?
My main finding was that a lot of people with dyslexia are still feeling the impacts of stigmas of dyslexia and that there is a lack of understanding about the condition with many people focusing on the fact that it is reading and writing only and that this causes endless frustration.
I think most of the participants sounded this out. A lot of participants stated they feel there needs to be more information available in the workplace, and support teams need to be better educated.
In terms of dyslexia in practice, the participants spoke of numerous different impacts, so many I couldn't write them all down. Some of the less known ones are that impacts on directions/ability to read and understand a sat nav, hearing (audio processing), anxieties and task priorities and the strategies that these individuals had to do.
One interviewee had to go, in their own time, to new addresses the day before to attempt to find them. It was clear from the finding that everyone was resilient and had a number of strategies that worked for them.
Equally what shone through in the research was the strengths of dyslexia specifically the big-picture thinking at times this can be overwhelming however it always seemed to come through as helpful in the end.
4. How have you carried this learning forward?
So I think on a personal note, it has allowed me to develop confidence and connections in teaching / educating others about dyslexia and its impacts.
It has allowed me to educate management and senior leadership. In which they have been receptacles to learning.
The research allowed me to understand the impacts I might face and get a step ahead and have strategies in place.
I also find as my thesis was published in both dyslexia Scotland and IRISS then this has reached places of the UK I never dreamed as possible with people reaching out to me with questions and situations.
5. How could you envision research in this area developing?
I think this question was outlined in the dissertation itself, but I do think that research needs have more specific focus strengths and I would love to see the stigmas disbanded and moved away from it is only reading and writing.
I would like to see a focus on the role that human support plays over the current heavy reliance on hardware.
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