Children may have difficulty with learning for a great variety of reasons. In determining these reasons, the diagnostician will need to consider among other intellectual functioning, environmental influences, biological and emotional disorders and cultural differences. What also needs to be included is how students view themselves as people and as students - that is, their feelings of self-worth or self-esteem. Very often the solution to a child's learning problems are looked for in the cognitive areas, when it is this affective aspect of learning that requires attention. There is ample research evidence to show, that children with poor opinions of thier self-worth, are less likely to be doing well at school than children who have a high opinion of themselves. Less clear however, is the actual cause and effect relationship. That is, is it more usual to find low self-esteem causing poor school performance or does poor school performance cause low self-esteem. This study assumes that low self-esteem is likely to be a major cause of poor performance and that any efforts to change a child's opinion of himself in a positive way, will result in improved performance - in this particular case - at reading. As self-esteem is largely learned from interaction with significant others, an attempt was made to influence the self opinions of a group of children by specific counselling of these 'others', here, their parents and teacher. The major thrust of the counselling was directed towards the parents, although it is understood that an equal amount of effort with the teachers of the children involved would have been justified. In a program extending over ten one and one half sessions, parents of an experimental group of children, were counselled in two groups. The aims of the program were to provide parents with an awareness of how their child's self concept is formed, how it affects their achievement in school and how they might influence its change. In the study, this experimental group did not show any significant gain in achievement or self-esteem over the control group. Nevertheless, there emerged a number of useful implications for better practice in the field of educational counselling.

There were four aims identified for the study. Firstly, to become familiar with current research concerning children with learning difficulties in mainstream classes in primary schools. Secondly, to ascertain teachers' attitudes towards, and experience of, these children. Thirdly, to interview a sample of children identified by their teachers as performing in all academic areas at least 18 months behind the rest of the class. The purpose of the interview was to examine how they perceived their performance in reading and mathematics compared with the rest of the class, and to investigate their self-concepts. The final aim was to gain an understanding of the nature of the interaction between teachers and children with learning difficulties by observing a small sample of them, and a Control group, in class. Field work was conducted in three A.C.T. primary schools in 1984-85. The field work was divided into three stages. In Stage 1 a sample of 30 teachers volunteered to complete a questionnaire. In Stage 2 a sample of 30 children identified by their teachers as having learning difficulties was interviewed. In Stage 3, 6 of the previously identified children and 6 Control children were observed in class. Whilst the findings of these 3 stages of field work can only be presented tentatively due to the small sample sizes involved, there were some findings worthy of comment. For example, many teachers indicated a lack of pre-service training, or even in-service course attendance which could have provided a background to teaching children with learning difficulties. The childrens' responses indicated that their perception of their performance in reading compared with their peers was that they were &quotenot as good as the rest of the class.&quote However, for mathematics their perception was that their performance was more in the middle of the class. As a group their self-concept was low, as measured on the Coopersmith Self Esteem Inventory. From the observation it appeared that children with learning difficulties were on-task as much as the Control children. The teacher was twice as likely to interact with a child with learning difficulties than with a Control child, and the majority of these interactions were to impart instructions.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

The purpose of this study was to document, by means of a literature review and empirical research, the phenomenon of resilience among adolescents with learning difficulties (LD). My study was motivated by a gap in current literature. Although there are some South African studies that explore the personal antecedents of resilience in youth with LD, there were almost no studies explaining what interpersonal antecedents might contribute to resilience. The aim of the empirical study was to investigate the phenomenon of resilience among adolescent learners coping with LD. This was done by conducting phenomenological research with ten learners who have LD and attend a school for learners with special learning needs. The findings of the study are in accordance with previous studies that suggest that resilience is encouraged by dynamic processes that are both interpersonal and intrapersonal. This study makes a contribution to theory in that it suggests that resilience among adolescent learners with LD is also encouraged by their home environment and the positive relationship with siblings that might be brought on by parents treating all their children impartially. This has not been noted in previous studies. This study also raises questions about whether inclusion of all learners in mainstream schools are beneficial to learners with LD. Because my study identified interpersonal processes (unconditional acceptance, safe spaces, championship and pedagogical expertise) that promoted resilience among those participants who took part in my study, my study contributes to what was understood about the process of resilience in learners with LD and in so doing contributes to practice in that guidelines could be drafted for Life Orientation teachers based on the findings of this study. These guidelines can enable dedicated teachers to adapt their classroom environment so that a learner with LD can benefit. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Students who meet criteria for both being intellectually gifted and having a disability are known by the term ‘twice exceptional’. To date there is little known about the classroom interactions of these students, and how these interactions impact their developing self-esteem. The interactions of four gifted primary school students with identified learning difficulties (twice exceptional) were observed along with four matched typically developing students and their teacher during normal classroom teaching activities. The number and type of positive, negative, neutral or no response interactions were recorded over four, one hour observation sessions. The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory was then administered to the four twice exceptional and four comparison students. Results indicated that there was little difference between the twice exceptional and comparison students in terms of number of interactions recorded, with the twice exceptional students showing slightly more positive interactions with their teacher and peers. All four twice exceptional students reported lower self-esteem levels than their matched peers, with two students being in the low range. The results suggested that these four twice exceptional students were interacting in a manner similar to their typically developing peers, although they displayed lower self-esteem levels. The implications of these findings and recommendations for future research are discussed.

A teacher in a mainstream classroom identified six children with behaviour difficulties or learning difficulties who were not receiving any assistance outside of the classroom. The teacher was to independently complete a functional assessment of each child to reach a hypothesis about the cause of the difficulty, and then choose and implement an appropriate intervention. Treatment integrity was monitored throughout the interventions to ensure correct implementation. It became apparent that the teacher was unable to complete adequate functional assessments or maintain appropriate interventions because of the time constraints associated with being in a classroom and her lack of specialist knowledge.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

The purpose of this study was to document, by means of a literature review and empirical research, the phenomenon of resilience among adolescents with learning difficulties (LD). My study was motivated by a gap in current literature. Although there are some South African studies that explore the personal antecedents of resilience in youth with LD, there were almost no studies explaining what interpersonal antecedents might contribute to resilience. The aim of the empirical study was to investigate the phenomenon of resilience among adolescent learners coping with LD. This was done by conducting phenomenological research with ten learners who have LD and attend a school for learners with special learning needs. The findings of the study are in accordance with previous studies that suggest that resilience is encouraged by dynamic processes that are both interpersonal and intrapersonal. This study makes a contribution to theory in that it suggests that resilience among adolescent learners with LD is also encouraged by their home environment and the positive relationship with siblings that might be brought on by parents treating all their children impartially. This has not been noted in previous studies. This study also raises questions about whether inclusion of all learners in mainstream schools are beneficial to learners with LD. Because my study identified interpersonal processes (unconditional acceptance, safe spaces, championship and pedagogical expertise) that promoted resilience among those participants who took part in my study, my study contributes to what was understood about the process of resilience in learners with LD and in so doing contributes to practice in that guidelines could be drafted for Life Orientation teachers based on the findings of this study. These guidelines can enable dedicated teachers to adapt their classroom environment so that a learner with LD can benefit. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

The purpose of this study was to document, by means of a literature review and empirical research, the phenomenon of resilience among adolescents with learning difficulties (LD). My study was motivated by a gap in current literature. Although there are some South African studies that explore the personal antecedents of resilience in youth with LD, there were almost no studies explaining what interpersonal antecedents might contribute to resilience. The aim of the empirical study was to investigate the phenomenon of resilience among adolescent learners coping with LD. This was done by conducting phenomenological research with ten learners who have LD and attend a school for learners with special learning needs. The findings of the study are in accordance with previous studies that suggest that resilience is encouraged by dynamic processes that are both interpersonal and intrapersonal. This study makes a contribution to theory in that it suggests that resilience among adolescent learners with LD is also encouraged by their home environment and the positive relationship with siblings that might be brought on by parents treating all their children impartially. This has not been noted in previous studies. This study also raises questions about whether inclusion of all learners in mainstream schools are beneficial to learners with LD. Because my study identified interpersonal processes (unconditional acceptance, safe spaces, championship and pedagogical expertise) that promoted resilience among those participants who took part in my study, my study contributes to what was understood about the process of resilience in learners with LD and in so doing contributes to practice in that guidelines could be drafted for Life Orientation teachers based on the findings of this study. These guidelines can enable dedicated teachers to adapt their classroom environment so that a learner with LD can benefit. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.