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Annotated Bibliography

How does slow processing speed and other learning disabilities cause depression among
adolescents and how does this affect social interaction?

Tomo Haske
Professor Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
26 October, 2015

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Annotated Bibliography
Butnik, Steven M. "Understanding, Diagnosing, and Coping with Slow Processing
Speed." Understanding, Diagnosing, and Coping with Slow Processing Speed. N.p.,
May-June 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
This source is an online article from a reliable website that provides information
regarding learning disabilities. This article specifically addresses slow processing speed
and provides information on diagnosis and ways of coping. It begins by explaining what
slow processing speed is and then goes on to give examples of how people with slow
processing speed act in certain situations. It explains the importance of proper diagnosis
and diagnosis as early as possible so that the individual can develop ways of coping. The
article explains that slow processing speed can be developed under certain conditions
including traumatic brain injury and emotional interference. It is also mentioned that
when improperly addressed, slow processing speed can cause attention problems that can
lead to the development of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The author of this
article is Doctor Steven M. Butnik who is a clinical child psychologist with a
specialization in the treatment and diagnosis of learning disabilities in students. I believe
this to be a non-biased and reliable source as it simply provides information on the
subject so that parents and teachers may identify this learning disability in their children
or students. The article is from a reliable website that promotes awareness of learning
disabilities and features articles from professionals in the field. The intended audience is
primarily concerned parents as the purpose of the article is recognizing slow processing
speed and identifying the correct steps to take in order to diminish the effects. In
comparison with my other sources the information presented in this article is more

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general with less explanation and less focus on one particular area. This article was
helpful in giving me an introduction to slow processing speed and providing a solid base
for further research. In particular it made me aware of the importance of timely diagnosis
to limit future self-esteem problems. I will most likely use this article in my project
because it did a great job of defining terms and introducing new information.
"Characteristics of Children with Learning Disabilities." NASET LD Report #3 Characteristics of
Children with Learning (2010): n. pag. 14 Sept. 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
This source is an online report from the National Association of Special Education
Teachers providing the most up to date information on the characteristics of children with
certain learning disabilities. This report provides a brief description of all documented
learning disabilities and describes how they affect a students ability to learn. For each
disability they list identifiable traits and examples of situations where the particular
disability would be most evident. The report explains that all learning disabilities are
developed during childhood but persist as a lifelong condition. However, it is mentioned
that students can develop habits to reduce the effects of most learning disabilities. The
report stresses the importance of recognizing the disabilities early on to limit self-esteem
issues. The author of this report is the National Association of Special Education
Teachers and is a national organization dedicated to the preparation of special education
teachers. I consider this to be a reliable and unbiased source as the report was made to
familiarize new teachers on the multitude of different learning disabilities and so serves
as a source of information with citations of information. This source is a reliable website.
This report is very similar in comparison to the other website source as it provides an
overview of the subject with no focus on any particular learning disability. This report

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does an excellent job of introducing a multitude of learning disabilities and providing

some insight in where I should head with my research. Overall this report was too general
in its content and did not provide a great deal of new information. I will not be using this
source in my project because it does not focus enough on any particular area and focuses
on recognition of learning disabilities among young children and not adolescents.
Conley, Terri, Negin Ghavami, Jill VonOhlen, and Phyllis Foulkes. "General and DomainSpecific Self-Esteem Among Regular Education and Special Education
Students." Journal of Applied Social Psychology(2007): 775-89. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
This source is a peer reviewed article from the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. In
this article, they first define global and domain specific areas of self-esteem and then go
on to examine the overall self-esteem of adolescent students who are learning disabled,
emotionally disturbed, and students in regular education programs. In the introduction,
the article references other sources while defining relevant terms and describing past
research on the subject. It then goes on to examine a study which was conducted to see
how students self-esteem were affected as a result of removal from regular education
and classification as either emotionally disturbed or learning disabled. The study
consisted of 48 participants with a mean age of 16.4 years. Ten were enrolled in regular
education, seventeen classified as learning disabled, and twenty one who were classified
as emotionally disturbed. All participants were evaluated by their perception of selfesteem in eight different domain specific categories. The results were combined for each
participant and used to determine a measure of global self-esteem. The study found that
global self-esteem of students classified as learning disabled and emotionally disturbed
were identical but significantly lower than that of regular students. However, in further

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analysis of the data, the study showed that self-esteem of students classified as learning
disabled and emotionally disturbed differed from the regular education students in only
three areas. These areas were academics, social skills, and leadership ability. This article
has four authors, two of which are professors at the University of Missouri, Kansas City
and the University of California, Los Angeles. The other two are associated with
Madison East High School. I do not believe this article to be biased due to the fact that it
simply states the findings of the study that was conducted. However, it is possible that the
results are an inaccurate representation of all adolescents as the study included
participants from just one school. This source is a peer reviewed article that reports the
findings of an academic study. The intended audience of this article most likely includes
educators, school coordinators, and other individuals who would benefit from
understanding the effects of learning disabilities and emotional problems on adolescents
self-esteem. I found this article to be both helpful and relevant to the topic of my
research. The findings of the study presented in this article provide correlation between
lower self-esteem and students with learning disabilities which goes right along with my
topic. Furthermore, this article introduces the concept of domain specific categories for
identifying self-esteem which I was previously unaware of. I will definitely use this
source because it provides results from a study that examines the difference in selfesteem and social skills of adolescents with and without learning disabilities.
Sanchez, Claudio. "A 'Major Shift' In Oversight Of Special Education." NPR. NPR, 24 June
2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
This source is a developed article from the popular news source National Public Radio.
The article follows a statement of the Obama administration in June of 2014 stating that

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the vast majority of the 6.5 million students in special education programs are not
receiving a quality education. The Obama administration goes on to say that it will hold
each state responsible for making sure these students are getting the attention they need
or else federal funding will be cut. The article explains that the dropout rate for students
with learning disabilities is twice that of regular students. It explains that two thirds of
students with learning disabilities in the United States are performing far below grade
level in reading and math and that this figure rises to 90% by eighth grade. The author of
the article, Claudio Sanchez, is a former elementary and middle school teacher and has
been a correspondent for National Public Radio since 1989. It is possible that Mr.
Sanchez is biased due to previous experience in the educational system. However, I
believe the source to be reliable because all of the statistics mentioned were released from
the Unites States government. The purpose of the article was to inform the general public
of the gap between special and regular education programs. This source is unlike any of
the three others as it uses a political address to shed light on the neglected special
education programs in the United States. I can certainly relate some of the findings from
my other sources to the data represented in this article, however, the information in this
article is too unrelated to my specific inquiry question. While informative, the
information in this article was not helpful towards my research and I do not plan to
include it in my project.