Self-Concept and Children with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

This study assessed the self-concept of students with learning disabilities (LD), comparing observer ratings and self-reports both within the LD group and across LD, nondisabled, and high-achieving (HA) classes. Using the Multidimensional Self Concept Scale (MSCS) a total of 135 students from the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades rated their self-concepts. Teachers and parents also rated the children's self-concepts using an abbreviated form of the MSCS. Compared to students' ratings, teachers generally underestimated the LD and nondisabled students' self-concepts, but overestimated the HA students' self-concepts. Parents' ratings of children with LD and HA children generally matched their children's self-reports, but the agreement between nondisabled children and their parents varied depending on the domain of self-concept. This study demonstrates the importance of assessing multiple self-concept domains when working with children who have learning disabilities.

Children with Learning Disabilities Within the Family Context: A Comparison with Siblings in Global Self–Concept, Academic Self–Perception, and Social Competence

“…Results from teachers' ratings not only differed from students' own evaluations but also tended to be more negative than students' own rankings. Montgomery (1994) found a greater degree of consistency in the ratings between parents and children with LD than in the ratings between teachers and the children with LD. Moreover, parents and their children with LD gave higher ratings than teachers in most domains of social competence of children with LD.…”

“…However, discrepancies in the rating of students with LD have been produced in the few studies utilizing parents as raters. While some studies obtained more consistent and positive results in self-concept and social competence (Haager & Vaughn, 1995;Montgomery, 1994), others discerned parentstudent differences in the rating of students with LD. Particularly noteworthy is the finding that whereas teachers and parents often rate children with LD to have more behavioral and social difficulty than nondisabled peers (Gresham & Reschly, 1986;Margalit & Raviv, 1984), children with LD provide more varied and positive reports about their own self-concept (Ayres & Cooley, 1990;Clever et al, 1992;Kistner & Osborne, 1987;La Greca & Stone, 1990;Rogers & Sakolfske, 1985;cf.…”

Perceptions of Pacific children’s academic performance at age 6 years: A multi-informant agreement study

“…Therefore, if we expand our search and draw from the extant evidence from the studies of children with known behavioural and learning difficulties (LDs), the value of multi-informant assessments and the analyses of concordances between those assessments is seldom disputed [ 17 , 18 ]. For example, in a 1994 study of students with LDs aged between 11 to 16 years, slight to moderate agreements in perceptions of academic performance were found between parent-child, child-teacher, and parent-teacher dyads [ 19 ]. Other studies have focused on agreement across the speech-language assessment (SLA), teacher and family assessments of language ability and/or language intervention need rather than academic success [ 20 – 22 ].…”

Examining Mother-Child Agreement in the Reports of Child Competence by Maternal Education and Gender

“…Some empirical studies show a moderate degree of parent-adolescent agreement about children's achievement in academic areas such as Math and English (Bornholt & Goodnow, 1999). On the other hand, some studies showed that the level of agreement between parents' perception of their children's competence and children's self-perception differs depending on the area (Epkins, 1998;Montgomery, 1994). For example, the agreement was higher in social and scholastic competence than the areas of athletic skills, physical appearance, and behavioral competence (Epkins, 1998).…”