Self-Determination Skills in Postsecondary Students with Learning Disabilities

The diversity of students on college campuses includes an ever growing number of students with a diagnosed learning disability (LD) (Adelman & Vogel, 1993; Cosden & McNamara, 1997; Dalke & Franzene, 1988; Zurcher & Bryant, 2001). Brinckerhoff (1996) reported that the number of college freshmen with LD by the mid 1990s had risen to 35,000 students. Modern medicine, federal legislation, and better technology have allowed students with disabilities to better control obstacles that previously kept them from pursuing goals in higher education (Reber, 1999). The growing numbers represent an increased interest in higher education by students with a learning disability (Cosden & McNamara, 1997; McGuire, Madaus, Litt, & Ramirez, 1996). However, students with LD on college campuses often experience multiple difficulties such as lack of motivation, lower levels of self-esteem and self-confidence, greater academic and personal-emotional adjustment dysfunctions, lack of understanding of their disability, an inability to express their perceived needs to others, limitations in strategic knowledge and self-monitoring, and lack of understanding of their disability and how it affects their learning throughout their academic careers (Brinckerhoff, 1996; Hall, Spruill, & Webster, 2002).