Family Motivation and College Students With Learning Disabilities

Introduction

The impact of family motivation on college-age students with learning disabilities may be a deciding factor in a student's success or failure. College-age students with learning disabilities clearly have more immediate needs in cooperative learning settings compared to typical students. Educators cannot simply instruct such a student to sit down and read five chapters of Freud. These students may contend with conditions like dyslexia, AD/HD, or limited English proficiency, and they may have received additional support in the past that is no longer available at an older age. When underlying issues are present, the family, teachers, and students themselves must work more closely together to reach positive outcomes. As Cranton notes, "Teaching effectiveness is inferred from the product that was created; it is the product that is the indicator of scholarship."

This paper aims to provide general background information about the application of Family Theories. The underlying objective is to understand the implications of Family Theories as they pertain to college-age students with learning disabilities, and how these principles can be used to establish programs that help assess and address a student's problem areas. This type of work offers opportunities to evaluate both external rewards from family and other resources, as well as the intrinsic rewards a student draws from within. There is little doubt that having a specific learning disability can surface related personal anxieties and lead to reactions that family and teachers may not understand. As a result, students often experience a full spectrum of emotions in their academic environments.

Literature Review: Family Science Foundations

Family Stress Theory and Family Systems Theory are both developmental theories drawn from the broader field of Family Science. Family Science investigates why some family units are able to adapt and grow even when facing numerous situational stressors and transitional events, while other families face far fewer stressors yet completely break down under the pressure. These theories offer methodologies for measuring and interpreting why families experiencing hardship develop unique ways of coping — through newly discovered strength or enhanced capabilities — in ways that support the development of individual members.

In the context of college-age students with learning disabilities, these theories help define each family member's role in supporting the student's success. Whether the family is nuclear, extended, or another configuration, it is critical to identify the primary caregiver within the family system in order to understand where corrective actions can be taken and questions addressed. Environment within the family system is "viewed as an open system and a component of the larger community and society, with the assumption that families benefit from and contribute to the network of relationships and resources in the community" (McCubbin). Regardless of who the primary caregiver is — biological parents, grandparents, or another significant person — college-age students with learning disabilities can achieve and excel in their learning environment.

"The range and depth of the family's repertoire of coping and problem-solving strategies when employed to manage a crisis situation are related to the level of family adaptation, and this is a positive relationship" (McCubbin). Understanding the patterns demonstrated at both the individual and family level is a key application of these theories. By identifying outcomes, it is possible to determine where established patterns break down — at the individual level, the family level, or both — so that a student's resilience can be assessed through observable responses or behaviors.

Family Systems Theory

The process of successfully coping with and adapting to inherent stress factors on a family and its support system is vital to understand. Family Systems Theory is a valuable tool for doing precisely that. Its intellectual legacy arose from the work of Ludwig von Bertalanffy, who developed a general systems theory that offered a new way of looking at science. Rather than relying on mechanistic models, von Bertalanffy proposed that human organisms are more "complex, organized, and interactive." This was a radical shift away from the linear causal model toward broader and more holistic orientations. His theories have since found acceptance in fields such as community planning, computer science, and the social sciences. Today, this methodology is one of the better-known theoretical foundations directing empirical investigations of families, particularly where clinical interventions are developed and applied.

The process examines how family members interact with one another to form the basis of the whole family unit. Rather than focusing on separate parts in isolation, it centers on the interconnectedness and interdependencies among all parts. This perspective allows one to observe small changes in any one component of the system and then trace how those changes affect the rest of the system — and, in reverse, how the overall system affects any single component. The application of Family Systems Theory to college-age students with learning disabilities is particularly relevant because families are composed of many individuals, each with a unique history that affects all aspects of bonding as a unit. Family Systems Theory permits a clearer understanding of the inner workings and organizational complexities of families through the lens of their interactions.

J. M. Patterson identifies several basic strategies applicable to college-age students with learning disabilities within the Family Systems Theory framework. These include:

Family harmony and balance are key components of success when dealing with any mental or physical disability. Family members have the opportunity to establish clear boundaries that may appear simple but are highly effective in preventing additional problems from emerging. Something as straightforward as setting out a college-age student's clothing the night before a stressful exam can support social integration and enhance family flexibility while reducing the student's stress. Such a diversionary tactic frees up mental capacity that can then be redirected toward the real challenge — in this case, the upcoming test.

Positive feedback is a major component of the Family Systems Theory process. In this context, feedback refers to a process in which the family — and possibly the teaching team — works together to help regulate the thinking of the college-age student with a learning disability. This process also incorporates the idea that positive self-talk by the student is a necessary component of educational success: it helps students monitor their own output. The human body accepts feedback from both internal and external sources in order to promote positive goals and objectives.

A useful analogy is the autopilot system used in commercial aviation. The autopilot provides constant feedback to the computer flying the plane — regarding speed, altitude, direction, and so on — and when the plane drifts slightly off course, the system realigns the flight path. Similarly, a college-age student with a learning disability may drift off course from time to time, and positive feedback from family members, teachers, counselors, and the student themselves all help to get the student back on track. This approach continually promotes active coping efforts and attributes positive meaning to the learning situation.

Conclusion

In closing, the impact of family motivation on college-age students with learning disabilities is a meaningful indicator of potential success or failure. These students have a greater need for support within the cooperative learning process compared to their peers, and families and educators share an obligation to help them excel. The difficulty lies in the fact that families are not always equipped to meet this responsibility on their own. The reality that students with dyslexia, AD/HD, or language barriers cannot simply be expected to navigate difficult academic material without additional support underscores the need for structured intervention.

This paper aimed to offer background on the application of Family Theories. The primary objective was to understand the implications of Family Stress and Family Systems Theories as they pertain to college-age students with learning disabilities. The secondary goal was to explore how these frameworks can be used to establish programs that help correct student problem areas and, where possible, strengthen the family as a whole. Learning disabilities present complex, layered challenges, but when families and educators apply these theoretical tools collaboratively, meaningful and lasting progress is achievable.

Works Cited

Clark, Diana Brewster. (1990). Dyslexia: Theory & Practice of Remedial Instruction. Parkton, MD: York Press.

Coutinho, M. J., Oswald, D. P., & Best, A. M. (2002). "The Influence of Sociodemographics and Gender on the Disproportionate Identification of Minority Students as Having Learning Disabilities." Remedial and Special Education, 23, 49–59. doi: 10.1177/074193250202300107.

Cranton, Patricia A. (2000). "Exploring the Scholarship of Teaching." Journal of Higher Education. July 1.

Elksnin, L. K., & Elksnin, N. (2004). "The Social-Emotional Side of Learning Disabilities." Learning Disability Quarterly, 27(1), 3–8.

Field, S., Sarver, M. D., & Shaw, S. F. (2003). "Self-Determination: A Key to Success in Postsecondary Education for Students with Learning Disabilities." Remedial and Special Education, 24, 339–349. doi: 10.1177/07419325030240060501.

McCubbin, M. A. (1993). "Family Stress Theory and the Development of Nursing Knowledge About Family Adaptation." In Feetham, S. L.; Meister, S. B.; Bell, J. M.; & Gillis, C. L. (Eds.), The Nursing of Families. Newbury Park: Sage. 46–58.

Papini, D. R., Farmer, F. F., Clark, S. M., Micka, J. C., & Barnett, J. K. (1990). "Early Adolescent Age and Gender Differences in Patterns of Emotional Self-Disclosure to Parents and Friends." Adolescence, 25, 959–976.

Patterson, J. M. (1995). "Promoting Resilience in Families Experiencing Stress." Pediatric Clinics of North America, 42(1), February.

Plunkett, Scott W., Carolyn S. Henry, & Patricia K. Knaub. (1999). "Family Stressor Events, Family Coping and Adolescent Adaptation in Farm and Ranch Families." Adolescence, Vol. 34.

Trainin, G., & Swanson, L. H. (2005). "Cognition, Metacognition and Achievement of College Students with Learning Disabilities." Learning Disability Quarterly, 28(4), 261–272.

Wells, T., Sandefur, G., & Hogan, D. (2003). "What Happens After the High School Years Among Young Persons With Disabilities?" Social Forces, 82(2), 803–832.

Woods, James E. (1995). The Dyslexic's Guide to Academic Achievement. New York: Semco Books, Inc.