Introduction: The literature highlights that pupils with Specific Learning Disability (SLD) often reveal a poor meta-cognitive system, with low levels of attribution to internal factors like diligence and personal skill, and high levels of attribution to external factors like ease of task, luck or help from others. Methods: This study aims to…

This paper will provide an overview of research in the past 20 years into the relationship between dyslexia and various aspects of self-perception, including self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy and locus of control. Problems are identified relating to the measurement of some of the most widely used constructs, as is the need for more precise…

The Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire, which measures perceived locus of control of academic outcomes, was administered to 28 emotionally handicapped (EH) and 25 learning disabled (LD)/EH children. Between group comparison revealed that EH children took significantly more personal responsibility for academic failure than did…

Study compared self-esteem and attributions of 35 learning disabled (LD) and 99 non-LD junior high school students and general attributions and task specific attributions of LD students. Concluded that LD students may verbalize desire to do well in school but fail to expend the effort necessary to complete work and, consequently, appear to be…

Thirty-six teachers and 162 elementary children in classes for specific learning difficulties (SLD) participated in a five week classroom attribution training program in one of three groups: mild frustration, success only, and control. Experimental training resulted in significant increase in ask persistence; no changes were noted in achievement…

The effect of an attribution retraining program intended to teach 35 learning disabled (LD) junior high school students to attribute achievement outcomes to the internal factor of effort was examined in the study. The research was concerned with LD adolescents' perceptions of personal (internal) and environmental (external) causality as…

An investigation of the causal attributions of success and failure performances on various levels of task difficulty by 36 learning disabled and 36 nondisabled adolescents revealed that Ss' perceptions of the task difficulty levels were significant determinants of the two groups' differing causal attributions. (Author/CL)

The article explores attribution theory and the concept of learned helplessness in teaching learning disabled individuals. Suggestions are given for areas of future research with learning disabled populations. The discussion includes current teaching techniques which may be related to the self regulatory behaviors and perception of personal…

Self-concept and attributions made about academic successes and failures were compared in 46 students with learning disabilities and 47 normally achieving students (mean age 12 years). Attributions regarding internal versus external causes for successes and failures and stable (ability) versus unstable (effort) causes for failures did not…

Reports on two treatment studies of special education students markedly helpless with regard to arithmetic: one comparing attribution retraining treatment to control treatment matched to it in schedule of successes and failures; the other comparing effects of three success-failure schedules on attributions and persistence. (Author/NRB)

The article offers suggestions for dealing with learning disabled children's apparent lack of achievement motivation, which may be a lack of belief that their actions affect academic and nonacademic achievement. Suggestions include establishing appropriate standards, focusing on effort rather than outcome, and promoting self-acceptance of credit…

Twenty-nine third and fourth grade learning disabled children's attributions for success and failure were examined. Results indicated that Ss did not always interpret successes as reflecting something positive about themselves. Nor did they view failure as something that could be overcome with effort. (Author/CL)

Learning-disabled (N=48) and nonlearning-disabled (N=48) fourth- and fifth-grade boys were given a task and told they had either succeeded or failed. Results indicated that learning-disabled subjects showed greater persistence, attributed outcomes to external factors, and did not exhibit lower performance expectations nor show greater expectancy…

This article discusses the importance of attribution and strategy training for understanding motivation in students with learning disabilities, contributions of attributions to the larger motivational schema, and problems associated with measuring this affective variable. (DB)

The investigation assessed whether 6 learning-disabled boys (ages 10-12) who were taking stimulant medication reported fewer adaptive attributions in academic situations than their 8 nonmedicated peers. Boys who were not taking medication reported more internal-effort attributions in failure situations than boys who were taking medication.…