DUAL NEEDS, DUAL STRATEGIES: ACADEMIC AND LIFE NEEDS OF
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES
Consuelo M. Kreider, PhD, OTR/L
Sharon Medina, BS
Mary B. de Laosa
Carrie Comstock, BHS
William C. Mann, PhD, OTR
International Institute for Qualitative Methodology
25th Qualitative Health Research Conference
Toronto, Canada
October 21, 2015
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No.
HRD-1246587. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Learning Disabilities
• Most prevalent disorder on college campuses
• ~60 % of students reporting a disability[1]
• Life long disorder; Invisible disability
• A neurological disorder that affects the brain's
ability to receive, process, store, and respond to
information[2]
• Learning Disabilities = “umbrella” term
– Specific LD diagnosis can vary from person to person
Challenges for Students with LD
•Often unaware of how their LD symptoms impact
their academic and essential life skills – more
difficulty with: [3]
• Time management
• Coping with stress
• Organizational skills
• Note taking skills
•Need strong supports; lower self-esteem[4]
– Students with LD are often unaware of and/or under
utilize resources and support services
Design & Setting
• Thematic description: extend understanding of
academic and health/wellness needs of
university students with LD
• University of Florida Campus
• ~ 50,000 students
• Large Research 1 university
• Data collected to design, refine and test a multilevel model of support for students with LD at
University of Florida – CS3LD Project
RES
EAR
CH
ACT
IVIT
IES
Background on CS3LD
Comprehensive Support for
STEM Students with
Learning Disabilities (PI: Mann)
Model for support for supporting academics,
while addressing health and disability issues by
building academic and health self-advocacy and
institutional infrastructure.
Undergraduate Group Workshops & Discussion:
self-advocacy; understanding symptoms & capacities;
time & stress management
Mentors: (1) professional enculturation:
“helping understand the reality of their field – guided discovery” (2) social
support: “acknowledging their hard work” (3) empowerment mentor:
“instilling confidence to make decisions”
Faculty & Administrators: Institutionalization of awareness & UDL training
Data, Informants & Analysis
• Transcripts (n = 15)
• Post-workshop discussions over 2 year period
• Discussion topics: Campus disability experiences
regarding workshop topic and strategies used.
• Two cohorts of university undergraduates with LD
in STEM major (n=30)
• Ages 18+, Males and Females
• Focused Coding
• 3 coders
• Regular discussions
• Attended meetings or listened to or transcribed audio
recordings
Initial Framework
Dual Needs [3]:
Academic Needs
Managing Health/Wellness
Managing Academics
• Health: physical & emotional
• Social Participation
• Daily living activities
Management
Health/Wellness Needs
• Disability services
• Pedagogical supports
• Health Services
• Social & Family Support
Accessing Academic Supports
Accessing
Accessing Support Systems
• Studying & assignments
• Group Activities
• Negotiating classroom accommodations
• Overcoming stigma
This Analysis: How do our cohort of undergraduates
describe their needs specific to LD?
Results: Focused Coding
Health/Wellness Needs
Academic Needs
Managing Academics
• Health: physical & emotional
• Psychiatric Co-morbidities
• Campus life & social activities
• Time management / daily routines
Management
Managing Life & Wellness
•Friends:
•understand symptoms & don’t try
fix them
•give space for time demands
•Instructors
•Study partners
•Family members
Accessing Academic Supports
Accessing
Accessing Support Systems
• Studying & assignments - timeline setting
• Self-direction; goal-setting
• Group Activities
• Understanding & communicating needs
• Teachers, study mates, groups
•Negotiating classroom accommodations
•Understanding accommodation:
why & when to use
•Overcoming stigma – with instructors
Managing Health/Wellness
Initial
LD Specific
Managing Life & Wellness
•Health: physical & emotional
•Psychiatric Co-morbidities
•Campus life & social activities
•Time management / daily routines
“So what I do is wake up really early…4 am and nobody’s… awake to bother
me, and I don’t have anything else to think about at 4 am other then, it’s a
blank slate, I just do my homework…”
“It’s sad cause … I rely on friends to keep me happy because of my depression…”
“I definitely make sure that… if I know I have…a significant amount of homework I
make sure I get that done first before I like get involved in something else…”
Managing Academics
Initial
LD Specific
Managing Academics
•Studying & assignments - timeline setting
•Self-direction; goal-setting
•Group Activities
•Understanding & communicating needs
•Teachers, study mates, groups
“I usually try to write it down on my calendar to try and schedule
everything out…it is hard for me to keep up with everything…”
“So, it’s best to…understand things through elementary and then figure
out… [How] something …complicated…is actually this simple. That’s how
I… understand. I just go in there [professors office] saying, ‘simple as
possible’. They [professor] will color in the lines.”
Accessing Support Systems
Initial
Accessing Support Systems
• Disability services
• Pedagogical supports
• Health Services
• Social & Family Support
LD Specific
Accessing Support Systems
•Friends:
•understand symptoms & don’t
try fix them
•give space for time demands
•Instructors
•Study partners
•Family members
“…they [friends] know I am not stupid I get really good grades and they
can tell by talking to me I am not stupid..”
“But usually when I spend time with my friends we are probably just
studying anyways. So that’s my way of balancing studying and keeping up
with my friends and school work and extracurricular activities...”
Accessing Academic Supports
Initial
Accessing Academic Supports
• Negotiating classroom accommodations
• Overcoming stigma
LD Specific
Accessing Academic Supports
•Negotiating classroom accommodations
• Understanding accommodation:
why & when to use
•Overcoming stigma – with instructors
“ I pretty much tell them [instructors] what my weak points are like
what I feel might be a challenge for me like if there is the test
environment is going to be noisy..”
“But that’s something else that contributes to the misunderstanding because a lot
of the struggles are the same as every other student. It’s just the degree to which
we might struggle with it or the reasons that we struggle with are different.”
Strategies for Life & Wellness
Managing Life & Wellness
• Health: physical & emotional
• Psychiatric Co-morbidities
• Campus life & social activities
• Time management / daily routines
Accessing Support Systems
•Friends:
•understand symptoms & don’t try
fix them
•give space for time demands
•Instructors
•Study partners
•Family members
Time Management:
Being aware that they need extra time
“I’m really sensitive to how valuable my time is
because I have so little”
“ I start studying a week in advance”
Friends:
Associating symptoms with who they
are
“I guess like as far as my friends go it is never like
a functional issue, it’s more just something that
they get used to that is quirky about me like I
forget my keys everywhere, or I forget to turn my
lights off when I leave my car..”
Study Partners:
Group environments
Creating supportive
networks
“ I learn better in groups” “ I like group work so
much…because they make me focus”
Strategies for Academic Needs
Managing Academics
• Studying & assignments - timeline setting
• Self-direction; goal-setting
• Group Activities
• Understanding & communicating needs
• Teachers, study mates, groups
Accessing Academic Supports
•Negotiating classroom accommodations
• Understanding accommodation:
why & when to use
•Overcoming stigma – with instructors
Goal and timeline setting:
Using visual cues
“ I want to use my white board for my short
term and long term goal setting”
“I have a color coded planner”
Understanding needs:
Saying to professors
“Can you please use simpler vocabulary” or
“I don’t understand”
Understanding Accommodations:
Saying to professors
Strategizing for
classroom success
“It’s probably ten times harder for us each day
to find one note taker … it makes a world of
difference to us”
Construct: Self-Management
of life & wellness, and thus, academics
Managing Life & Wellness
•Health: physical & emotional
•Psychiatric Co-morbidities
•Campus life & social activities
•Time management / daily routines
Managing Academics
•Studying & assignments - timeline setting
•Self-direction; goal-setting
•Group Activities
•Understanding & communicating needs
•Teachers, study mates, groups
Construct: Self-Advocacy
Begins with understanding self – strengths, weaknesses, values LD symptoms, needs & expectations
Accessing Support Systems
•Friends:
•understand symptoms & don’t try fix them
•give space for time demands
•Instructors
•Study partners
•Family members
Accessing Academic Supports
•Negotiating classroom accommodations
•Understanding accommodation: why &
when to use
•Overcoming stigma – with instructors
Discussion
• Often have difficulty discerning, articulating and
then advocating for their needs
• Students must develop self-management and
self-advocacy skills
• Practice skills in school & life situations
• Beyond the classroom intervention focus
• Holistically support daily-life functioning
• Support emerging young adult roles
• Impacts in work environments &
interpersonal relationships
Acknowledgements
CS3LD team: Anthony Delisle, CY Wu, Sue Percivil, Mei-Fan
Lan, James Gorske, Charles Byrd, Donna Shoenfelder,
Caroline Mikaiel, Erika Unger Allison Kellison, Mary Anne
Steinberg, Kyra Speigle
This research is based upon work supported by the U. S. National Science
Foundation under Grant Number (HRD-1246587). This work is also supported
in part by the NIH/NCATS Clinical and Translational Science Award to the
University of Florida UL1 TR000064 and the NIH the National Center Medical
Rehabilitation Research (NICHD) and the National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke (K12 HD055929). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions
or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and
do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the
National Institutes of Health.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No.
HRD-1246587. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material
are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
References & Contact
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
(2015). Digest of Education Statistics, 2013 (2015-011),Chapter 3.
National Center for Learning Disabilities.
Kreider, C., Bendixen, R., & Lutz, B. (2015). Holistic Needs of University
Students with Invisible Disabilities: A Qualitative Study. Physical &
Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics. doi:10.3109/01942638.2015.1020407
Reiff, H., Hatzes, N., Bramel, M., & Gibbon, T. (2001). The Relation of LD
and Gender with Emotional Intelligence in College Students. Journal of
Learning Disabilities, 34(1), 66-78.
Needham, B., Crosnoe, R., & Muller, C. (2004). Academic Failure in
Secondary School: The Inter-Related Role of Health Problems and
Educational Context. Social Problems, 51(4), 569-586.
Consuelo Kreider
[email protected]
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No.
HRD-1246587. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material
are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.