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Article Excerpt
Abstract. This study explored the effect of a coping program and a teacher feedback intervention on perceived control and adaptive coping for 98 adolescent students who had specific learning disabilities. The coping program was modified to build personal control and to address the needs of students who have specific learning disabilities. The teacher feedback program emphasized use of effort and strategy in the face of difficulty. One-way analyses of covariance of student responses indicated a greater perceived control of external situations and increased use of productive coping strategies for the group who received the coping program. There was no change in internal control of feelings or of use of non-productive coping. These results were maintained over the two-month follow-up period. The study provides preliminary evidence that it is possible to facilitate positive change in both sense of control and coping patterns for students who have learning disabilities.
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It is increasingly acknowledged that, even with skilled teaching, students who have learning disabilities are likely to experience lifelong difficulty in some areas of academics, such as reading and spelling (Raskind, Golberg, Higgins, & Herman, 1999; Reiff, Ginsberg, & Gerber, 1995). Consequently, there is a call for a focus, not only on literacy or numeracy, but also on building the coping resources and sense of personal control that are known to be crucial to achieving school and life success for those who have learning disabilities (Raskind, Goldberg, Higgins, & Herman, 2002; Rodis, Garrod, & Boscardin, 2001; Westwood, 2004).
Research in the fields of self-regulation, academic motivation, and attribution has also shown the importance for students who have learning disabilities to be proactive in response to difficulty (Alexander, Graham, & Harris, 1998; Borkowski, Weyhing, & Carr, 1988; Nunez et al., 2005). Importantly, such responses are being found to be independent of level of learning disability (Hellendoorn & Ruijssenaars, 2000; Nunez et al., 2005; Raskind et al., 1999; Sideridis, Mouzaki, Simos, & Protopapas, 2006).
A major determinant for success for adults who have learning disabilities has been found to be the ability to cope adaptively, and in particular to take personal control in the face of the challenges their learning disabilities present. In their research involving successful adults who had learning disabilities, Reiff et al. (1995) found that such "taking control" was the key factor for this successful group. This finding has been corroborated by a longitudinal study of people who have learning disabilities (Raskind et al., 1999). The successful adults in both studies set goals, persevered, accessed help when they needed it, used effective strategies for coping with stress, and were self-aware and creative in finding alternative strategies in the face of difficulty (Goldberg, Higgins, Raskind, & Herman, 2003; Raskind et al., 1999; Reiff et al., 1995). The success achieved by these people occurred in spite of continuing difficulties with reading, spelling, and some areas of mathematics (Raskind et al., 1999; Reiff et al., 1995). According to Raskind et al. (1999), the attributes listed above are more powerful predictors of success than "numerous other variables, including IQ, academic achievement, life stressors, age, gender, ethnicity, and many other background variables" (p. 48).
Although sense of control is likely to be a key psychological resource for students who have learning disabilities, many of these students are at risk of passivity in the face of difficulty, which manifests as learned helplessness (Bender, 1987; Borkowski et al., 1988; Nunez et al., 2005; Sideris et al., 2006). Students who have learning disabilities frequently attribute success to luck rather than to their own ability or effort (Miranda, Villaescusa, & Vidal-Abarca, 1997). Dweck (2000) found that such attributions held by low-achieving students created a helpless rather than a mastery orientation to coping with future difficult circumstances. In their recent study of students who had learning disabilities, Sideridis et al. (2006) noted the contrasting profile between those who were high in motivation and those who were low in motivation and presented as helpless. Nunez et al. (2005) also found this difference among students who had learning disabilities and that a proactive rather than helpless attributional style was associated with positive outcomes. Again, the choice of helpless or adaptive attributions made by this group of children was independent of the level of the learning disabilities themselves.
Studies in the coping field also suggest that many students who have learning disabilities have a passive, helpless approach to coping with difficulty. Such studies suggest a higher-than-average use by students who have learning disabilities of passive coping strategies such as self-blame, worry, and failure to cope, and a low use of productive coping strategies such as working at solving the problem and positive thinking (Cheshire & Cambell, 1997; Geisthardt & Munsch, 1996; Greaves, 1998; Shulman, Carlton-Ford, & Levian, 1994). Associated risks are disruptive behavior problems (Bender, 1987; Chan & Dally, 2000; Prior, 1996) and social withdrawal (Bryan, 2005; Pearl, 2002; Wong & Donahue, 2002).
Based on these findings, there is a growing recognition of the need to identify effective ways to assist young people who have learning disabilities in developing adaptive coping resources (Aune, 1991; Durlak, Rose, & Bursuck, 1994; Grainger & Fraser, 1999; Margalit, 2003; McGrady, Lerner, & Boscardin., 2001; Raskind et al., 2002; Reiff et al., 1995; Rodis et al., 2001; Westwood, 2004) before lifelong, maladaptive coping patterns are established (Raskind et al., 1999). However, despite a focus on the development of psychosocial resources for the general student population (Wyn, Cahill, Holdsworth, Rowling, & Carson, 2000), there has been less response in this regard for students who have learning disabilities. For example, a recent national enquiry into learning difficulties in Australian primary schools contained little reference to addressing the emotional needs of students who have learning disabilities (Louden et al., 2000). Behavior problems, such as lack of self-regulation, exhibited by students with learning disabilities, were reported as frequently being managed by psychostimulant medication rather than by school-based interventions (Chan & Dally, 2000). Concerns with regard to such medicated control include the side effects of the medication (Purdie, Hattie, & Carroll, 2002) and the fact that the medication approach further reduces students' sense of control and personal responsibility (Allen & Drabman, 1991; Chan & Dally, 2000; Reid & Borkowski, 1987; Weiner, 1979).
Thus, there appears to have been little investigation of the particular coping skill needs of students who have learning disabilities or of interventions that are specifically designed to cater to the access needs of these students. This study, therefore, investigated the effect of two interventions on perceived control and coping style of adolescent students who had learning disabilities: a coping skills program specifically modified for optional access by students who have learning disabilities and a teacher feedback intervention that aimed to develop student strategy use instead of a focus on ability. The coping skills program taught the efficacy of taking control by using informed choice of productive coping strategies and learning to use positive thinking and assertion. The teacher feedback intervention was based on achievement attributional studies (Dweck, 2000; Nunez et al., 2005; Weiner, 1979) and involved teacher feedback to students that emphasised use of effort and strategy in the face of difficulty rather than self-blame and passive acceptance.
Adolescence was chosen as an optimum developmental stage in which to receive such coping interventions (Frydenberg & Lewis, 2002; Skinner & Wellborn, 1997), as coping strategies internalized at this stage of development are likely to have significant influence on the development of later coping patterns (Seiffge-Krenke, 2000). This also addresses Deshler's (2005) stress on the importance of not concentrating on early learning disabilities intervention programs to the exclusion of adolescent programs and research.
The research question for the study was as follows: What is the effect on student perceived control and coping of the coping program and of the teacher feedback program.
METHOD
Participants and selection procedure are described, followed by a discussion of the measures, interventions, procedures, and data analysis techniques used in the study.
Participants
Ninety-eight adolescent students from four coeducational secondary schools and with varying specialist educational support participated in the study, along with their parents and teachers. The four schools were (a) a high socio-economic independent regional school with weekly specialist educational support classes, (b) a medium-level socio-economic government regional school with no specialist support, (c) a medium socio-economic Catholic rural school with weekly individual specialist support for some students, and (d) a low socio-economic government regional school with some specialist in-class support.
Consent to participate was originally obtained from 129 students and their parents and teachers. Of these students, 98 students from the four school groups (N = 24, 26, 27, 21) were chosen to take part. Although teachers believed 124 of the students had learning disabilities, when the researcher assessed them, some were found not to fit the definition of learning disabilities used in the study and were excluded from the study. A cut-off age of 16 years also resulted in the exclusion of some students.
The study design involved dividing the four school groups into four subgroups consisting of those who received the teacher feedback program, those who received the coping program, a group that received both interventions, and a wait list control group. Each school received all four treatments. This design...
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