An Investigation Into How Children With Learning Disabilities View Themselves as Compared to Their Regular Education Counterparts

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine how children with special needs at the third grade level view themselves both academically and socially as compared to their regular education counterparts. In order to determine these views, 23 third grade students from a suburban western New York school district were administered the Pier-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. Six of the students were labeled with learning disabilities. The responses to this scale were divided into subsets to determine Self-Concept in the areas of behavior, intellectual and school status, anxiety, popularity, and happiness and satisfaction. The students were administered the self-concept scale in-groups of approximately six and were read the prompts aloud. This ensured that all of the students received similar conditions regardless of academic ability. The student responses were separated based on services they receive and analyzed using norms developed by the publishers of the Piers Harris Self-Concept Scale. The results of this study seem to indicate that special education students at the third grade level do not see themselves as different from their regular education counterparts.