Parenting Styles and Gender Differences Among Primary School Pupils with Dyslexia in Rivers State: Implications for Sustainable Development

The study investigated parenting styles and gender differences among dyslexia primary school pupils in Rivers State. The study adopted the ex-post-facto research design. The sample for the study was 136 dyslexic primary school pupils who were selected using purposive sampling technique. An instrument titled ‘Dyslexia Scale for Primary Pupils (DSPP)’ was adapted and used for this study. The reliability coefficient obtained was 0.76.Two research questions as well as two corresponding hypotheses were formulated and used for the study. T-test associated with Regression analysis was used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Variance associated with regression were used to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive) significantly influence dyslexia among primary school pupils in Rivers State, whereas gender differences did not. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that, teachers should make optimal use of meaningful learning materials in teaching as this will enhance intrinsic motivation in dyslexics and make learning more interesting. Moreso, workshops on dyslexic children needs to be held among school teachers in Rivers State to help them understand these unique learners the more and thus modify their learning needs appropriately.