Developing self-advocacy : the experience of college students in structured learning disabilities programs

Abstract

The number of students with disabilities arriving on college and university campuses is increasing. Of those students reporting a disability, over half of them state they have a learning disability. Unlike high school, the burden is on the student in college to demonstrate the need for services and communicate this need to the institution in a timely manner. It is therefore essential that students possess adequate self-advocacy skills to receive the services they need to be successful. This study describes three U.S. Students' academic experience is grounded in the environment of the learning disabilities program and the broader campus climate of the university. Interviews with students and university personnel confirmed that students in these programs do exhibit a sense of self advocacy. Conversations with faculty, the original focus of this study, were considered a less important factor in students' development of communication skill than conversations with tutors. Self-efficacy and motivation emerged as essential foundational components of self-advocacy. However, students' development of interdependence did not occur in the way outlined by Chickering and Reisser's third vector. At all three institutions discussed, the atmosphere was one of acceptance and support rising from a long history