Tomo Haske

Professor Campbell
UWRT 1103
November 11, 2015
School Kills Self Esteem
Tomo! Get in the god damn car, were going to be late again. What have you been doing
all this time? During my time in school, this was a common thing for me to hear from my
parents. I was tardy almost everywhere I went. While my tardiness could be attributed to a
number of different reasons, I find my poor concept of time to be the most pertinent. I would get
lost in the act of performing different everyday tasks. For example, brushing my teeth for fifteen
minutes. It was not until seventh grade that I received a psychoeducational evaluation and was
diagnosed with slow processing speed and ADHD. I learned that many people with slow
processing speed have no concept of time. Slow processing speed is one of many different
learning disabilities. After the diagnosis my daily school routine changed very little with the
exception of extended time on tests. There was talk between my parents and I about switching to
the Key school which was a small program within my current school that provided different
teaching techniques for students with learning disabilities. I was against this option as soon as
they presented it. Primarily because most students in this program had horrible social skills and
low self-esteem. Years later I reflected on this observation and began to question why the
majority of students with learning disabilities have problems with self-esteem and social skills.
My initial research question was; how do learning disabilities affect social interaction among
adolescents?

According to the 2012 census, 2.3 million children in the United States have documented
learning disabilities. If the situation regarding decreased social skills among students with
learning disabilities at my school was the same for students nationwide, then I considered this to
be a significant issue. It is also a relatively new concept to many. The definition of a learning
disability is a condition giving rise to difficulties in acquiring knowledge and skills. So right of
the bat we know that if not met with proper accommodations, a student with a learning disability
will perform lower in school than his or her non-disabled peers. Given the importance of school
performance in attending a good University and eventually receiving a good job, it is very
important that students with learning disabilities are recognized and provided the resources to
succeed. However, debatably more important than academic success are social skills and verbal
proficiency. Studies show that verbal proficiency has a much higher correlation to an
individuals lifelong success than does overall IQ or success in school. So if students with
learning disabilities have diminished social skills, then it is very important we look at two things.
The first is if this assumption is actually true, and the second is if the assumption is true then why
is this the case.
In my initial research I stumbled upon a report from the National Association of Special
Education Teachers. The report was aimed at informing teachers on how to recognize and
accommodate for different learning disabilities. A portion of the report mentioned, Although
not all children with LD have socialemotional problems, they do run a greater risk than their
nondisabled peers of having these types of problems. This information confirmed my
assumption regarding a link between having a learning disability and having social problems.
The report went on to say, In the early years they are often rejected by their peers and have poor
self-concepts. As adults, the scars from years of rejection can be painful and not easily

forgotten. The report gives an explanation of why students with learning disabilities run a
greater risk of having social or emotional problems. However, I wasnt satisfied with this
answer. There was no evidence to support this reasoning and it provided a very specific
explanation may not be entirely true for all conditions classified as learning disabilities.
The next source I found was much more promising. It was a peer reviewed article from
the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. The article reported the findings of a study examining
the overall self-esteem of adolescent students who are learning disabled, emotionally disturbed,
and students in regular education programs. 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 were classified as emotionally disturbed. All participants were
evaluated by their perception of self-esteem in eight different domain specific categories. The
results were combined for each participant and used to determine a measure of global selfesteem. 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 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 study
shows that students with learning disabilities rank themselves lower in their social abilities than
their non-disabled peers.
In my preliminary research I found the report from the National Association of Special
Education Teachers. The report answered my initial question of whether or not students with
learning disabilities had diminished social skills in comparison to their non-disabled peers.
Judging by the audience of the report, this information is already common knowledge at least

among special education teachers. However, this report did not provide much information. On
the other hand, the review of the study conducted on overall self-esteem of different students
provided clear evidence of a link between lower self-esteem in social ability and having a
learning disability. The study investigated self-esteem in different categories. The three areas that
were lower were all important areas but the two that jumped out at me were for obvious reasons
social ability but also academic ability. The study also mentioned that all students placed higher
importance on the categories that they were more confident in.
In my research I found clear evidence that having a learning disability and placement into
a special education program has negative effects on self-esteem. However, the study also showed
that students placed higher importance on the categories that they were more confident in. So
having a learning disability definitely doesnt help with social skills but depending on what
someone places more importance on could in theory have very little effect. Now looking back at
what I mentioned earlier about the importance of social ability and verbal proficiency in
determining a persons lifelong success. And knowing that learning disabilities negatively affect
self-esteem in academics. And because of the importance placed on academics in our current
system. Is there a better way to approach special education so that it doesnt impair social
ability?