The effects of a self-advocacy training program on the self-esteem of learning-disabled adolescents

This study examined the effects of a twenty-session Self-Advocacy Training Program (SATP) on the self-esteem of thirty learning disabled students in a secondary school. It assessed self-esteem through the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (CSEI). An experimental design was used to test four hypotheses postulated to compare experimental and control group mean CSEI pre- and post-SATP scores. The effects of the program on grade-point average was also examined. The SATP was designed to help learning disabled students understand learning disabilities, to educate them on the laws which affect disabled populations, and to enable them to recognize their personal learning styles and strengths. It utilized cognitive teaching techniques to help students learn compensatory skills and coping strategies. Group discussion, group interaction exercises, and role playing were employed to help students become comfortable speaking out for themselves. Students examined sample Individualized Education Plans and educational reports, and were encouraged to examine their personal records with a special education teacher or counselor. One-tailed t tests at the.05 level were used to test the significance of differences between mean CSEI scores of the experimental and control groups. Compared to the control group, a significantly higher score was achieved after treatment by the experimental group in both self-esteem and grade-point average. Therefore, the SATP appears to have had a positive effect on both self-esteem and grade-point average for secondary learning disabled students. It was concluded that the SATP is an effective intervention to help learning disabled adolescents improve self-esteem and school grades. A regression analysis was used to examine factors which influenced gains made by students in the experimental group. Female gender and years in special education were found to most influence gains made in both self-esteem and grade-point average. Family structure was found to have the most detrimental effect in both areas.