Degree Name
Master of Science
Department or Program
Rehabilitation Counseling
Advisor
Upton, Thomas D.
Abstract
Students with learning disabilities face many challenges throughout their academic careers. There are numerous assessments to diagnose students and many strategies to assist them in the classroom. There are three main learning disabilities which students can be diagnosed with: Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and Dyscalculia. There are currently an estimated number of six million students who are diagnosed with a learning disability. This study investigated if students with learning disabilities face more psychosocial challenges than their peers without learning disabilities. This study focuses on the psychosocial implications that students with learning disabilities face from peers, parents and school personnel. These psychosocial implications include more depressive symptoms, lower self-esteem than other peers, unrealistic self-perspectives, and anxiety and face peer challenges such as bullying. The final chapter discusses strategies to assist students with learning disabilities including more screening for students with disabilities to determine if he or she is facing a psychosocial challenge as well as more education about psychosocial challenges to parents, teachers and school administration.