School-Based Interventions to Enhance the Self-Concept of Students with Learning Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

In this meta-analytic review we examined self-concept outcomes of school-based interventions for students with learning disabilities (LD). A comprehensive search of the literature from 1975 to 1997 yielded 64 intervention studies that used a control group of students with LD and measured the effect of the intervention on students' self-concept. Across 82 samples of students with LD, the mean weighted effect size was 0.19. Overall, middle school students benefited more from interventions than did elementary or high school students. The type of intervention that was most effective differed for students at different grade levels. Whereas counseling interventions were more effective than other types of interventions for middle and high school students with LD, the most effective interventions for elementary students with LD were those that focused on improving students' academic skills. Interventions had more of an effect on students' academic self-concept than on other dimensions of self-concept. The findings are discussed in terms of both the conceptual issues surrounding self-concept and the practical implications for school-based interventions.