A Study on the Self-esteem and Social Relations of Adolescents with Learning Disability

According to World Health Organization Learning disability is a state of arrested or incomplete development of mind. The most common learning disabilities are Dyslexia, Dyscalculia Dysgraphia, Auditory and Visual Processing Disorders and Nonverbal Learning Disabilities. Adolescents with learning difficulty have trouble expressing their feelings, calming themselves down, and reading non-verbal cues which can lead to difficulty in the classroom and with their peers. In India approximately 13 to 14 per cent of all school children suffer from learning disorders (Sadaket 2009). The social relationships of the adolescents with learning disability have a positive influence on their self esteem. It helps them to maintain a constructive relationship with their peers, teachers and parents. The study was focused to know the relationship of self esteem and social relation in adolescents with learning disability. The study was conducted among all the Adolescents with Learning Disability, in an alternative school in Bangalore. The size of the sample was 50 which include both genders and the sampling design was purposive sampling. Adolescents with learning disability of the age group 11 to 18 years were included for the study. The students’ level of self-esteem was assessed by using a 10-item scale developed by Rosenberg (1965). The Rosenberg SelfEsteem Scale was rated on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). The researcher reverse scored five items that were negative in nature so that higher scores would indicate higher level of self-esteem. The scale ranges from 0-30. Scores between 15 and 25 are within normal range; scores below 15 suggest low selfesteem. A semi structured questionnaire was designed to gather information on the socio demographic profile and social relation of adolescents with learning disability. A pilot study was conducted among 10 percent of samples and necessary modifications were made. The statistical analysis was done on the data using SPSS. The level of significance was fixed at 0.005(p<0.05). The results show that, among the total respondents, 62.0 percent of them are male respondents (n=31) and 38.0 percent are female respondents (n=19).56 percent of the respondents are being compared with their siblings by their parents. The study indicates that 44 percent of the respondents feel stressed due to parental pressure. The respondents who fall under the age group of 16-19 years have a higher self-esteem than the respondents who fall under the age group of 11-15 years. The study shows that, statically there is a significant relationship between the respondents relationship with parents with respect to respondents self-esteem. There is less significant relationship between the respondents relationship with peers with respect to respondents self-esteem. Present study indicates that, statically there is a significant relationship between the respondents relationship with teachers with respect to respondents self-esteem. Learning disability is a disorder which can be remedied using appropriate instructional strategies. The early identification helps in remedial teaching and building self-esteem. The present study indicates that adolescents with learning disability with better social relationship will have high self-esteem. Realizing the importance of self-esteem and its relationship with social relation, a multidisciplinary approach is required to initiate appropriate interventions in building self-esteem and teaching learning disabled child. Thus the learning disabled child can be mainstreamed effectively.