ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to investigate social competency, sense of loneliness and self image among Arab dyslexic adolescent boys and girls. The study distinguished between boys and girls in the two groups, and examined the way dyslexia affects them, with the assumption that the Arab culture negatively affects the development of dyslexic girls more than that of dyslexic boys. The study was based on three main hypotheses which were tested by the quantitative research technique with the use of three questionnaires on which the study population replied: social competence questionnaire, sense of loneliness questionnaire and self-image questionnaire. In addition, two tests were held: A reading test and a reading comprehension test. The study population consisted of 87 Arab adolescent boys and girls: 19 dyslexic boys and 20 normal boys, 15 dyslexic girls and 33 normal girls. The study re-establishes and supports the assumption that the development of disability, the degree of disability and the difficulties are affected by the environment and culture of the disabled. Hence, the conservative, and traditional character of the Arab culture, collectively refers to girls differently than to boys, because it imposes on girls various prohibitions and restrictions from an early age, negatively affecting the personal, emotional and social development of Arab girls in overall, and that of girls with reading disability in particular. In the Arab culture a child with a learning disability has an inferior status, and his/her cognitive, emotional and social development is incompatible with that of his/her peers.