What’s in a label?
The effects of labeling students as learning disabled.
As I near closer to the end of my time here at McGill I have come to realize there are truly things you can’t learn in a classroom. Sure, the plethora of research findings presented in psychology classes have been fascinating, and I am thankful that I get to attend a university with world class researchers as professors. However, I still found myself lacking a coherent image of what it truly is like to work as a psychologist, particularly in a clinical or counselling setting. It was through this line of thought that I found myself diving into being a clinical intern/ tutor for kids with learning disabilities (LDs). Sure it was a scary and new experience, but how else was I going to know what I was signing up — or what I was allotting many more years of my life, and thousands of dollars in tuition money- for?
Well turns out I am not only getting practical experience in a clinical field, and convincing myself that I am making the right career choice, but I also have been lucky enough to meet many interesting and driven students who inspire me daily. As I am moving though this year long internship, I continually keep asking myself how does being in such a program make one feel, and how does it feel to navigate the already emotional tumultuous time that is high school, with an extra complication like a LD?
Now a good place to start answering this question is by knowing what it means to have an LD and how to find out if a student has one. It involves a multi-test process, often starting with a response to intervention assessment, where an educator observes how a student progresses though learning tiers, and identifies where the student has problems. Some students will go through individual evaluations, where they are properly identified as having a LD, evaluated for their eligibility for special services and form an individualized education plan that outlines the type of support that the child will receive. Additionally many other factors are examined like physical health, academic background and the like.
One must remember these assessments are merely giving a label or diagnosis to a student, which gives somewhat of an indication of what cognitive tasks a student struggles with. What may be more pertinent to consider is what happens after the testing process, when the student has to deal with the consequences and effects of their diagnosis? There is research to suggest that having this label may not always be positive.
On one side, being diagnosed can open up many more resources for a student who is struggling to succeed in the general education program. Most schools use a categorical approach for aid resources, such that how a student is labeled/ diagnosed will determine what type of support they may get, and when they will receive it. Henley, Algozzine and Ramsey (2010) point out several reasons why having these labels help, including in determining how much funding special education programs receive, in developing new teaching methods and interventions that can help all students better succeed and finally in providing us with general terms to use in essential conversations on topics such as learning characteristics of these students, and their advocacy needs. Basically, in order for these students to receive aid that would make succeeding in school both feasible and enjoyable for them, they must be diagnosed.
So what are the downsides to diagnosis? Not only will this information be made apparent to every teacher who teaches the student, but as with most labels, there is an associated stigma pertaining to being different or deficient in some way. Henley and colleagues (2010) also outline several downsides to labeling students. One such issue is labeling a student with a LD changes what a teacher expects from a student and how they react to their behavior. Additionally, lumping children into categories makes it easier to stereotype them and generalize between them, rather than appreciate the unique characteristics each child has to offer. Finally a shift in blame from the schooling system to the student often occurs when one is labelled as leaning disabled. Teachers often forget that the education process involves both a student and a teacher, and the issue may be in either of the interaction partners, or the even the school environment.
Likewise, research by Valais describes further issues with labeling a child as having a LD. He found that students who had been diagnosed with a LD, and subsequently placed in special education programs showed more learned helplessness- a phenomenon where after multiple failing performances in various school subjects, students start to attribute the failure both internally and stably such as to a lack of ability- than other children who have also had low scholastic achievement but no LD diagnosis. (2009).
Taking the various research findings together we can see that a LD diagnosis may indeed act like a double edge sword for the student in question and I believe we really should consider what impact does labeling patients have on their lives. Although understanding the use of psychological tests to measure constructs and how they have advanced the field of psychology research and clinical practice is important, looking at the bigger picture may be even more so.
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Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2012, November 30th). How are learning disabilities diagnosed? Retrieved from https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/learning/conditioninfo/pages/diagnosed.aspx
Henley, M., Algozzine, R.F., & Ramsey, R.S. (2009). Characteristics and Strategies for Teaching Students with Mild Disabilities. Pearson Education Inc.
Valas, H. (2001). Learned Helplessness and Psychological Adjustment II: Effects of learning disabilities and low achievement .Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, volume number 45:2, 101–114. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00313830120052705
