Self-Concept and Attributions of the Learning Disabled

Abstract

Evidence that learning disabled (LD) people are at risk for social problems has led to research efforts to identify the sources of and intervention for such problems. One area of research has been focused on learning disabled students' selfconcept and attributions. A review of these studies shows consistent patterns across samples using different measures.

By and large the research shows that LD students hold negative self concepts when queried about their academic performance but do not differ from achieving students in their feelings of self-worth. Studies of their beliefs about the causes of their successes and failures find that learning disabled students tend to attribute their successes to external factors, namely to a lack of ability. These findings suggest that the passive learning style (Torgesen, 1975; Wong, 1980) of LD students may reflect their beliefs that they are not in control of their destinies. Research is reviewed that shows how children's attributions influence their behavior in academic and nonacademic situations. These data suggest that LD children respond in nonstrategic ways to various tasks and that their maladaptive attributions become more pronounced as tasks increase in difficulty.

Finally, this paper reviews a number of strategies that teachers and parents might adopt to help the LD child become more effective and to adopt more adaptive notions about the causes of their successes and failures.