First-Year Engineering Students with Dyslexia: Comparison of Spatial Visualization Performance and Attitudes Velvet Fitzpatrick School of Engineering Education Purdue University West Lafayette, IN Teri Reed Department of Petroleum Engineering Texas A&M University College Station, TX Jeffrey Gilger School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts University of California, Merced Sean Brophy School of Engineering Education Purdue University West Lafayette, IN P.K. Imbrie College of Engineering Texas A&M University College Station, TX Abstract— Student diversity in higher education tends to focus on gender, ethnicity/race, and socio-economic status. However, these factors do not address cognitive diversity. Cognitive diversity, within the context of this study, refers to the varying ability of brain functions such as reasoning and memory, excluding persons with a developmental disability. Students with learning disabilities (LD), specifically dyslexia, contribute to this cognitive diversity. This study aims to initiate scholarly research on academic success factors for First-Year Engineering (FYE) students with dyslexia. FYE student performances on the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test-Rotations (PSVT-R) and Student Attitudinal Success Instrument (SASI) have been found to be predictors of academic success in engineering. A preliminary analysis of entering FYE student performance on the PSVT-R and SASI is conducted for three populations: students with dyslexia, students with a LD, and students without a LD. The anticipated findings will support the inclusion of cognitive ability, with an emphasis on LD and dyslexia, in FYE engineering diversity programs. Keywords— dyslexia, learning disabilities, spatial-visualization abilities, first-year engineering, academic success I. INTRODUCTION This work-in-progress (WIP) paper presents preliminary findings from a quantitative study designed to investigate critical factors influencing academic success of engineering students with dyslexia. “Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge” [1]. This study examines spatial abilities and attitudes toward formal learning experiences. Comparisons are made between First-Year Engineering (FYE) students with dyslexia, a learning disability (LD), and students without a LD on the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test-Rotations (PSVT-R) and the Student Attitudinal Success Instrument (SASI). The PSVT-R is amongst the most common instruments for assessing visual spatial skills of engineering students [2]. It requires the student to visually rotate a solid to the correct position [3]. The SASI is a 161-item survey that is composed of 13 specific attitudinal and affective constructs, which have evidence of validity and reliability for engineering students [4]. The SASI is used to assess these constructs prior to the first year of engineering study and assists with retention programs and efforts at the first-year level. II. DYSLEXIA & ENGINEERING A. Disabilities in Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has released several reports stating the U.S. must increase the diversity of engineers to meet the competitive need in the field [5][6]. Yet, this characterization of engineering diversity must be furthered to explicitly identify persons with different cognitive abilities such as a LD. The National Science Foundation (NSF) Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering (CEOSE) supports the advancement of people with disabilities in STEM disciplines with the purpose of supporting diversity, however, LDs are not a major focus and data is not readily available. LDs are a major component of cognitive diversity, the varying ability of brain functions, such as reasoning, memory, and perception [7][8][9], and must be included in this national dialogue. The CEOSE has recently noted a need to regularly collect data on disabilities in STEM and requested that the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) move forward with this recommendation [10]. B. Students with Dyslexia: Self Perception Currently, there is minimal research explicitly investigating undergraduate engineering students with dyslexia. Research has found that history of academic achievement and stress impacts the self-perceptions of students with a LD or dyslexia in higher education [11][12]. These stress factors also persist in students that have both dyslexia and gifted abilities, referred to as twice-exceptional [13]. Twice-exceptional students with dyslexia are often identified late in their academic career; these students may be of particular interest to engineering. For example, competitive 978-1-4673-5261-1/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE