Abstract
Dyslexia is a common specific learning difficulty that can affect academic performance and students’ educational experiences. Despite its prevalence in primary education, delays in identification are still reported, sometimes associated with educators’ misconceptions and limited knowledge about the condition. Understanding educators’ beliefs and knowledge may help inform the design of professional training programs, particularly in non-English-speaking contexts such as Spain, where research on this topic remains limited. The present study examined Spanish educators’ knowledge of dyslexia, focusing on scientific understanding, misconceptions, and potential differences among professional groups, including speech-language pathologists (SLPs), therapeutic specialists and primary school teachers. It also explored the relationships between training, confidence, professional experience and exposure to students with dyslexia and overall knowledge scores. A total of 163 Spanish educators (47 speech-language pathologists, 78 therapeutic specialists and 38 primary school teachers) completed the Dyslexia Knowledge Questionnaire-2 (DKQ-2), which assesses respondents’ endorsement of statements consistent with expert knowledge about dyslexia. The results indicated a mixed pattern of understanding. Misconceptions were most frequently observed in items related to treatment (62.6%), followed by origin/prevalence (36.8%), characteristics (14%) and diagnosis (12.9%). Knowledge related to identification appeared comparatively stronger, although some uncertainty remained regarding linguistic aspects and oral language comprehension. Primary school teachers tended to show lower knowledge scores than speech-language pathologists and therapeutic specialists. Total knowledge scores were positively associated with training, confidence, experience and exposure to dyslexia cases, although only the amount of training emerged as a significant predictor in the regression analysis. These findings suggest that professional preparation related to dyslexia may play an important role in educators’ knowledge of the condition. Strengthening evidence-informed professional development opportunities may help address misconceptions and support educators in responding to the needs of students with dyslexia.