Success despite specific learning disabilities

Nola Firth
The University of Melbourne

Abstract
Proactive coping is known to be a key resource for life success by adults who have specific learning disabilities. This paper describes two programs that were trialled as part of doctoral research. These were a coping program and a teacher feedback intervention designed to increase proactive coping for adolescent students with specific learning disabilities. The coping program focused on use of proactive coping strategies, optimistic thinking and assertiveness, and was designed according to best practice for access by students who have specific learning disabilities. The teacher feedback intervention involved teacher feedback to individual students that focused on expectation of use of effort and strategy in preference to negative rumination on poor ability.