Adolescents in special schools' perceptions of their learning disabilities

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Completing formal education with a specific learning disability presents many challenges to the individuals concerned. For learners in special education, negative perceptions of learning disabilities and/or inaccurate and unrealistic perceptions, could result in poor outcomes in adult life, as well as feelings of frustration, helplessness and hopelessness during their transition from school to post-school environments. Such individuals need to form accurate perceptions of their own learning disabilities to ensure that they can and will advocate for themselves and will be willing and able to seek out the appropriate support needed to experience success in all spheres of life. The aim of this study was to conduct an in-depth exploration of the subjective perceptions of adolescents in special education regarding their own learning disabilities since accessing this knowledge is an important first step toward developing and providing positive and empowering interventions and support for learners in special education.The researcher aligned herself with the constructivist/interpretive paradigm and the research methodology used can be described as a basic qualitative research design. Seven participants from one special school were selected through purposive sampling. The researcher used individual semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews as well as personal documents in the form of learners' personal files to obtain data. The process of analysis employed can be described as thematic content analysis.The findings of this study suggest that adolescents are aware of the individual challenges posed by completing school with a learning disability, although this was experienced in a less debilitating sense as a result of the supportive special school context. They were aware of some of the coping strategies that needed to be implemented in order to cope with their current academic workload, but were not always aware that these would need to be extended to life after school. Generally, they were also not aware that they would need to advocate for themselves and seek out support in post-school settings. The perceptions formed of their learning disabilities were influenced by early experiences of their first awareness of their struggles with learning, their experiences of assessment and placement in a special school, the perceptions others had of their learning disabilities, as well as their experiences as learners in a special school. The most important recommendation based on the findings of this study is that learners in the special school environment need to be provided with more explicit counselling regarding the specific nature of their learning disabilities. They need to be made aware of support strategies and resources that they would be able to use in post-school environments, as well as the process of obtaining access to such resources.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University