School-Based Interventions to Enhance the Self-Concept of Students with Learning Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis
Title
School-Based Interventions to Enhance the Self-Concept of Students with Learning Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis
Author
Elbaum, B., & Vaughn, S.
Source
Elementary School Journal, 101(3), 303-329.
Year Published
2001
Background
Children and adolescents benefit from having a positive self-image, and yet most struggle with issues of self-concept at some point during their school years. Students with Learning Disabilities (LD) tend to be especially vulnerable to low self-image. Students with LD are more likely to report low self-concept than their regular education peers. The self-concept of students with LD is often negatively impacted by the academic challenges they face. Research has shown that students’ self-concepts are related to their academic achievement. Students with positive perceptions of their academic abilities have higher levels of academic achievement than students who rate themselves as poor learners.
Research Questions
- To what extent can school-based interventions enhance the self-concept of students with LD?
- Are certain types of interventions more helpful than others in enhancing self-concept?
- How do the duration of the intervention, the area of self-concept assessed, and student age affect the self-concept outcome?
Findings
- School-based interventions did, in fact, lead to beneficial changes in the self-perceptions of students with LD.
- Interventions using both skill development and self-enhancement approaches succeeded in improving the self-concepts of students with LD.
- Interventions that used group counseling techniques produced favorable outcomes for students of varying ages. Academic interventions seemed particularly beneficial to middle school students.
- One effective intervention that was included in the meta-analysis targeted parents of students with LD, rather than the students themselves. Children whose parents participated in a parent effectiveness training course, in which the parents were taught to respond more affirmatively to their children, showed improvement in their self-concept compared to children whose parents did not receive the training.
- The length of time an intervention was implemented did not appear to alter the effectiveness of an intervention.
Conclusion/Recommendations
The findings of the research synthesis indicate that school-based interventions can lead to beneficial changes in the self-perceptions of students with LD. However, they do not point to a single, most effective technique for improving students’ self-concept. Interventions using both skill development and self-enhancement approaches succeeded in improving the self-concepts of students with LD. Middle and high school students seemed to benefit most from counseling interventions, while elementary school students benefited more from academic interventions. The researchers suggest that one way for teachers to have a positive impact on students’ self-concept would be to incorporate critical aspects of effective self-concept interventions into ongoing academic instruction.