Introduction
Students spend 15,000 hours of the first two decades of their lives in schools (Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier & Ryan, 1991). Thus, schools are bound to have a significant influence on them.
Ideally, schooling is expected to instill in the students a genuine interest in learning and a sense of self-initiated involvement in education (Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier & Ryan, 1991). However, not all students do equally well in school. Some of them have academic difficulties in spite of their ability and intelligence. This invisible barrier that comes in the way of their learning is known as learning disability.
The Learning Process
Successful learning requires the integration of the processes of sensation, attention, perception, imagery, symbolization and conceptualization.
A breakdown or difficulty at any of these levels will have an impact on the child’s information processing and consequently on learning leading to a Learning Disability/difficulty (Raj, 2010).
Learning disabilities (hence forth LD) is an umbrella term which includes different types of learning disabilities that have different manifestations. This term was proposed by Samuel Kirk in 1963 (Alex, 2013). Students with LD have intelligence in the average to above
Attention Perception Imagery Symbolization
Conceptualization Sensation
average range but may have difficulty in specific academic areas, organizational skills, information processing, memory and social skills (Bender, 2004). It can be described as unexpected, significant difficulties in academic achievement and other areas related to learning without any other obvious disability (Ahmad, 2015). It cuts across all ages and socio-economic class (Raj, 2010). While other researchers have used different terms to denote this particular issue, this thesis has made use of the term LD as an all-encompassing term and not looked into the specific academic area of difficulty.
The main characteristics of LD involve academic difficulties in reading and mathematics and language problems (Wong et al., 2008). Other problems include social emotional problems (Margalit & Al Yagon, 2002), working memory problems (Swanson, Cooney & McNamara, 2004) and self-regulation problems (Harris, Reid & Graham, 2004). LD is a unique condition which affects the whole person- his social, emotional and cognitive dimensions (Wong et al., 2008). Therefore, this study is focused not only on the academic domain but also the social-emotional domain of students with LD.
The current research includes two separate empirical studies. The first study aims to investigate for the impact of inclusive education on students with LD, with reference to their peer relationships and other relevant variables. The second study deals with developing and testing an intervention program based on Self-Determination theory to target motivational concerns, for students with LD.
Inclusive education is about removing barriers to learning and development of all children (Booth & Ainscow, 2002). It is the biggest challenge faced by the educational world (Ainscow & Cesar, 2006). It is aimed at removing social exclusion which has resulted from the attitudes to different races, social class, ethnicity, religion, gender and ability (Ainscow &
Cesar, 2006). The principle of inclusion has been gaining recognition rapidly in the last few decades and countries are supporting the schooling of children with disabilities in mainstream
settings (Sentenac et al., 2012). The last decade has seen a lot of work on the realization of inclusive education (Lindsay, 2007). Some studies reporting the educational outcomes of inclusive education have found slightly positive results (Lindsay, 2007). Other studies have looked into the social outcomes of inclusive education and reported mixed results (Karrin et al., 2012). Some studies have depicted positive social outcomes (Avramidis, 2010) and others have reported risks for students’ social development (e.g., Locke et al., 2010).
Inclusive education in India is mostly concerned with students with disabilities (Singhal, 2008). Disability oriented inclusive education is about active participation from all students and not just enrolling them in a mainstream school (Nind, 2014). However, in India inclusive education is still at a nascent stage which requires more research (Bindal & Sharma, 2010). Hence, the first part of this proposed study will explore issues related to inclusive education and its impact on students with LD.
Self-Determination theory is a theory of motivation which is being increasingly used in various behavioral domains, including classroom setting (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009). One of the main premises of SDT is that human beings possess three independent, innate psychological needs namely, need for autonomy, need for competence and need for relatedness (Kartartzi &
Vlachopoulos, 2011). According to this theory the satisfaction of these three needs leads to intrinsic motivation and well-being and is important for people to develop in healthy and optimal ways (Rogers & Tannock, 2013). This theory claims that the support of students’ basic psychological needs plays an important role in their behavior and psychological adjustment (Haerens et al., 2013). In school settings students who experience more intrinsic motivation also reported higher levels of concentration, positive affect and perseverance in challenging tasks (Standage, Duda & Ntoumanis, 2005). For students with LD, motivation for academic tasks is low and their self-efficacy is fragile because of repeated failure and poor achievement (Wong et al., 2008). Low motivation and low self-efficacy will influence their engagement
with learning tasks (Wong et al., 2008). Providing support for the basic psychological needs satisfaction is a way to enhance students’ learning and improve other important outcomes for students with LD. Hence the second study intends to develop an intervention based on SDT and investigate its impact on intrinsic academic motivation, academic self-efficacy and well- being of students with LD.
The Nurtured Heart Approach (NHA), developed by Howard Glasser as a part of his therapeutic service, lays down certain strategies that can be adopted by the adults to modify the disruptive behavior of children. The same strategies can be applied in an educational setting too (Hektner et. al, 2013). The strategies proposed by NHA urges the adults to alter the reactions to children so that it brings about changes in the behavior of the child too (Glasser &
Block, 2011). It essentially trains the adults to focus on positive behavior rather than negative behavior and clearly lay down the limits to any kind of disruptive behavior. This approach and Self-Determination theory are similar in their basic underpinnings of motivating changes in behavior. Therefore, this approach was combined with SDT to further strengthen the intervention for the second study.
Inclusive education is for students of diverse needs. Strategies which promote the inclusion of marginalized groups can also improve outcomes for all learners (Ainscow, Booth
& Dyson, 2004). According to Deci and Chandler (1986) one of the measures that can be adopted to prevent LD is to improve the whole educational setting. Such a macro approach would involve applying general educational principles to suit the needs of all students- students with LD and without LD (Deci & Chandler, 1986). To develop such an approach it is important to adopt a more holistic motivational perspective, such as SDT, which addresses the educational needs of students in general and of students with LD in particular (Deci &
Chandler, 1986). Therefore, since SDT can address educational needs of students with diverse
needs and inclusive education is all about accepting students with diverse needs, both the areas together can have important implications in the educational settings.
Research Questions
Based on the concerns raised above, the following research questions have been developed for this study:
1. What impact has inclusive education had on students with LD?
A. What is the impact of inclusive education on peer relationships of students with LD with regard to the number of friends that they have?
B. What is the impact of inclusive education on peer relationships of students with LD with regard to the age of the friends?
C. What is the impact of inclusive education on the friendship quality of students with LD?
D. What is the level of intrinsic academic motivation, academic self-efficacy and well- being of students with LD as compared to students without LD?
2. What is the attitude of the regular classroom teachers towards including students with LD in their classrooms?
3. What impact does the proposed intervention strategy based on self-determination theory have on students with LD?
A) How does the strategies based on SDT (such as providing relevance for the task, providing choice and avoidance of control) and NHA affect need for autonomy?
B) How does the strategies based on SDT (such as providing clarity of expectations, optimal challenges and positive feedback) and NHA affect need for competence?
C) How does the strategies based on SDT (such as providing empathy, affection, dependability and attunement) and NHA affect need for relatedness?
D) What is the impact of the strategies based on SDT and NHA on academic motivation, academic self-efficacy and subjective well-being of students with LD?