Teaching Self-Management Skills to Learning Disabled Adolescents

Abstract

Learning disabled adolescents often display deficiencies in problem-solving and interpersonal social skills. These deficiencies tend to pose particular difficulties for successful transitions from the school to work environments. The present 3-year study investigated the impact of a self-management training program for LD adolescents ( N = 67 across all three years) who were attending a vocational-technical school. The study specifically examined changes in subjects' problem-solving and job-related social skills. Results showed significant and substantial improvements in LD students who received the self-management training program compared to both LD and non-learning disabled students who were not trained. Implications for enhancing the curriculum for LD adolescents as well as the potential limitations of the findings are discussed.