## Book Review: Dyslexia in Higher Education: anxiety and coping skills, Amanda T. Abbott-Jones (2022)

Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 – 1 – 316 – 51700 – 0 Hardback / ISBN 978 – 1 – 009 – 01688 – 9 Paperback Disability officers, mentors, mental health advisors and specialist tutors working with students with specific learning differences are all very aware of the anxiety and lack of confidence that accompanies them in their academic work, however successful they may be in other areas of their life. They are all too aware of the increase in numbers of students citing mental health concerns as part of their disabilities. There has been minimal research into mental health in higher education. The specific area of specific learning differences (SpLDs) in higher education and their association with anxiety and social/emotional difficulties has been neglected. Amanda Abbott-Jones’ new book based on research is the first to begin to plug this gap as it gives welcome attention to the neglected area of the association of anxiety and social/emotional difficulties experienced with specific learning differences and the impact on learning in the higher education environment. Her quantitative survey of 102 dyslexic students and 72 non-dyslexic students showed significant higher levels of academic anxiety among the former. Her qualitative discussions with a sample of these students provide specific examples of the social emotional cognitive effects of dyslexia which substantiated the survey data. Students reported on the emotional effects they experienced in response to specific academic tasks: reading texts (in terms of quantity but also looking for specific information for essay writing); organising and developing their writing for essays; exams; meeting deadlines; note-taking and contributing to seminar discussion. They reported large amounts of negative emotions, the most prevalent of which was frustration. But on the positive side, many students also cited real enjoyment when things went well. Her book discusses her research findings and she spends some time presenting strategy suggestions for students which will be of practical help with their SpLD but also help ameliorate their high levels of anxiety. At the same time, her work is grounded in thorough theoretical approaches concerning the nature of SpLDs as she presents one of the most comprehensive summaries of the theories behind the complicated nature of specific learning difference I have come across. She effectively dismisses dyslexia as mere reading difficulty by providing evidence of the multiple deficit model arguing, successfully, that dyslexia, and other SpLDs, are complex and can involve an array of multiple deficits that operate as a causal chain Abbott-Jones also devotes a chapter to discussing different theories of anxiety and coping, inviting professionals working with students to develop deeper insight into concepts of coping and useful strategies for coping. She tackles theoretical approaches to general anxiety coming from learning and behavioural psychology; and includes an examination of both cognitive and physiological approaches. She evaluates coping theories and critiques coping theories based on the distinctions of problem-focused coping versus emotion- coping; approach versus avoidance; healthy versus unhealthy and suggests reframing