In accordance with the formal practice of reporting observations, due acknowledgments have been made for the citations of other investigations. This is to certify that the work contained in the thesis entitled "Inclusive education, self-determination and motivation: A proposed intervention strategy for students with learning disabilities/difficulties" by Neel Harit Kausik (Roll No. a student of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences ) , Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG), for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy carried out under my supervision The results contained in the thesis have not been submitted to any other university or institute for the award of any degree or diploma.
Here I want to acknowledge the support that has been sent to me in the best way that words can express. A special thank you to all the participants who enthusiastically participated in my study and everyone else who was involved in my data collection process. During data collection, I had the good fortune to meet a number of dedicated and knowledgeable professionals working in the field of LD.
I am grateful to them for all their help and for making the data collection process the best time of my PhD.
Abstract
Their well-being scores were also significantly higher than students with LD studying in comprehensive schools. This study also assessed teachers' attitudes towards the inclusion of students with LDN in their classrooms. It was found that teachers in general, and especially teachers from public schools, have a negative attitude towards the inclusion of students with LD in their classes.
The second study focused on developing an intervention program and testing its impact on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, academic motivation, academic self-efficacy and well-being in students with LD. Seven participants with LD participated in at least 36 sessions each, which were spread over a period of 3 months. The Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used to check for differences in scores before and after the implementation of the intervention.
This is especially true for students with LD due to their challenges with educational/learning tasks.
Synopsis
Impact of Inclusive Education on Psycho-social Functioning of Students with LD
To address the first research question, the sample consisted of students with LD studying in special schools (n = 72), students with LD studying in comprehensive schools (n = 75) and students without LD studying in comprehensive schools (n = 75). Also, students without LD studying in comprehensive schools had a significantly higher number of friends at school than students with LD studying in comprehensive schools. The results point in the direction that students with LD studying in comprehensive schools have fewer friends.
Consequently, the students with LD who study in special schools have a larger social circle than students with LD who study in inclusive schools. The present findings also showed that students without LD studying in inclusive schools had significantly higher number of friends in school than students with LD studying in inclusive schools. No significant difference in well-being was therefore observed between the students with LD studying in special schools and students without LD studying in inclusive schools.
The well-being of students with LD studying in inclusive schools does not appear to be as healthy as the others.
Development and Testing of an Intervention for Students with LD
Intrinsic motivation and greater internalization of extrinsic forms of motivation can be facilitated by satisfying the three basic psychological needs - need for autonomy, need for competence and need for relatedness. The primary purpose of this study is to develop an intervention program for students with LD and test its impact on need fulfillment, academic motivation, academic self-efficacy, and well-being in students with LD. Therefore, they were integrated to provide conditions for the students with LD, so that it supported the satisfaction of the three needs.
What is the impact of strategies based on SDT and NHA on academic motivation, academic self-efficacy and subjective well-being of students with LD. The Wilcoxon matched-pairs test was used to test the effect of the intervention on students with LD. The findings of this research show that an intervention based on SDT and NHA supports the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, enhances identified regulation, intrinsic motivation, and academic self-efficacy of students with LD.
The core of the intervention lay in the adult's response to a child with LD.
Contents
List of Tables
Introduction
The second study therefore aims 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. What is the impact of inclusive education on peer relationships of students with LD regarding the number of friends they have. What is the impact of inclusive education on peer relationships of students with LD in relation to the age of the friends.
What is the impact of inclusive education on the friendship quality of students with LD. What is the level of intrinsic academic motivation, academic self-efficacy and well-being of students with LD compared to students without LD. What is the attitude of the regular classroom teachers to include students with LD in their classrooms.
What impact does the proposed intervention strategy based on self-determination theory have on students with LD?
Review of Literature
Impact of
Inclusive Education on Psycho-social Functioning
Development and Testing of Intervention for
Students with LD
Intervention Phase
In the second phase, the participants were given remedial help in conditions that support the fulfillment of the needs as suggested by Self-Determination Theory and NHA. In the sessions, the participants were given the option to choose what they preferred to do in that particular session. Proactive acknowledgments were also given to further support the need for autonomy through the provision of choice.
For this purpose, a rule list was created in the initial sessions, which contains the rules to be followed during the lecture/session. These rules provided an opportunity for proactive recognition when they were followed or not broken. Competency support in the intervention program included providing clarity of expectations, providing optimal challenges, and providing positive feedback.
While creative acknowledgments were given, requests for the tasks to be performed were given very clearly so that participants knew what was expected of them. The tasks themselves were clearly explained to them so that they did not wonder what was needed. Information on limits and consequences was also provided in accordance with Stand 3 of the NHA, which again provided clarity on expectations.
Optimal challenges in terms of remedial tasks or any other academic activities were given to the participants. The participants received all the recognitions and all the three stands as suggested by NHA were followed during the sessions. Notice was taken of the change in their behaviour, motivation and attitude towards the teacher and study.
Observations were also recorded of the change in behavior that was evident in the participants. Any change in their behavior (verbal or otherwise) indicating a change in their motivation, attitudes was noted to corroborate with the quantitative data.
Post-intervention Phase
Thus, in addition to the descriptive statistics, the Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Sign Ranks Test was used to check whether the intervention affected students with LD. The first three parts of the research question address the effect of the intervention, using SDT and NHA, on need for autonomy, need for competence and need for affiliation. The fourth part of the research question dealt with the impact of the intervention on academic motivation, academic self-efficacy and well-being.
Most of the participants mentioned at the beginning of the intervention that they did not like to attend such sessions as they had to miss the non-academic lessons that they loved. During the last part of the study it was observed that if any of the other participants did not want to do a task, the other participants would explain how these tasks were important and how they had helped him. Over the course of the sessions, the participants seemed to have undergone a change in their attitude towards the researcher and in their motivation to attend the sessions.
Even during the last part of the study, when they had a free class hour, some participants started asking for the sessions themselves. Through the interaction between students and teachers, both approaches were used to provide a social context that supported the fulfillment of basic psychological needs. We examined how the components of each influenced the satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs as well as academic motivation, academic self-efficacy and well-being.
For this, we used a pretest-posttest design to look for significant differences in the variables before and after the implementation of the intervention. SDT assumes that support for the satisfaction of the three needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) leads to an improvement in intrinsic motivation and integrated regulation (Deci et al., 1996). Participants reported a significant increase in these measures following implementation of the intervention program.
An environment where students are accepted with their difficulties and perspectives; are given challenging tasks and opportunities to make choices; provided a rationale for assigned tasks; controlling language is used minimally; goals and expectations are clearly stated; positive feedback is given; empathy, love, understanding and trustworthiness appear; supports the fulfillment of the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Haerens et al., 2013; Reeve, 2009; Su. & Reeve, 2011). This continues to reiterate the need for contextual support for meeting needs and as revealed by the results of this study, the aforementioned components together with NHA techniques can provide this.
