Supportive Environments Providing Social and Emotional Learning Explain Success in People with Learning Disabilities
2024-10-31
Supportive Environments Providing Social and Emotional Learning Explain Success in People with Learning Disabilities
Amber DeBono
Julia English
Michele Heimbauer
Elizabeth Mendelsohn
Jonathan Cohen
Although students with learning disabilities (SwLD) are at greater risk (compared to typical learners) for dropping out of high school, not attending college, and unemployment, some SwLD lead successful lives (Aro et al., 2019; Mazzotti et al., 2021; Wagner et al., 2005). Little, however, is known as to what factors support this subset of SwLD in defying the odds and achieving success by graduating from college and leading satisfying lives. Alumni from Winston Preparatory School (Winston), a school exclusively for SwLD that has a strong track record for high school graduation and college attendance, were recruited for this study. Results from a previous study on Winston alumni indicated all attended college and most: graduated college, were employed, and had someone who socially supported them. The present study described in this paper built on these findings. Results indicated that when students felt supported by teachers and people at home, they were more likely to report high levels of three social and emotional learning skills which predicted several measures of student success. These results may offer possible explanations for why certain SwLD succeed but more research, possibly longitudinal, is needed to gain a more thorough understanding of the factors involved.
Keywords: Learning disabilities, social and emotional learning, student success
Introduction
People with specific learning disabilities1 (LD) face challenges that their counterparts without LD do not, including psychosocial challenges that create potential disparities in achievement including: academic achievement, employment, and mental health. For example, people with LD have higher rates of unemployment (Siperstein et al., 2013; Shattuck et al., 2012), are less likely to finish college (Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014), have lower college grade point averages or GPAs (Hen & Goroshit, 2012) and have higher rates of depression and suicide (Fuller-Thompson et al., 2018). Furthermore, as compared to people who do not have LD, people with LD experience difficulties in daily living, socially isolate, and have emotional health problems (Gerber, 2012). Nevertheless, there are many people with LD who are achieving success in employment, academic study, and in their overall well-being (Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014). Research suggests that several factors—such as self-advocacy, self-determination, and social support—are predictive of people with LD achieving success in these areas (Wagner et al., 2006; Test et al., 2009; Mazzotti et al., 2016).
https://doi.org/10.18666/LDMJ-2023-V28-I1-11671
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 33 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
1Specific learning disabilities, includes disorders “in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations” (IDEA, 2004) and related disorders (Frolov & Schaepper, 2021; Learning Disabilities Association, 2021) such as: dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, written expression disorder, and ADHD.
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 34 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
Success in People With Learning Disabilities
Self-Advocacy
Self-advocacy is defined as a person’s ability to
communicate their wants and needs to find the support
required to fulfill them (Stodden et al., 2003). People with
LD often need self-advocacy skills so that they can face
the challenges they encounter in college and employment
(White et al., 2014). Despite plentiful research that points to
the importance of self-advocacy, skills tied to self-advocacy
are not typically taught in school, even though these skills
may be particularly important for LD student success
(Daly-Cano et al., 2015). In one study, when college special
services centers were asked how “secondary schools could
better prepare students with LD for college” (p. 468), the
most popular response was that secondary schools should
improve students’ self-advocacy skills (suggested by 66.7%
of the sample; Janiga & Costenbader, 2002).
Self-advocacy is also predictive of many positive
psychosocial outcomes. In one experimental study, students
with LD (SwLD) who were assigned to participate in a selfadvocacy
program had higher basic psychological skills,
such as competence, than SwLD who did not participate
in the program (Kotzer & Margalit, 2007). In addition to
competency, a literature review on self-advocacy in LD
populations concluded that self-advocacy could improve:
understanding of the self, social connectedness, access
to opportunities (e.g., advisory boards), and feelings of
control that prompt individuals with LD to advocate
for their rights (Tilley et al., 2020). Additional research
also indicates that self-advocacy can improve students’:
awareness about employment and academic support
services; understanding of their roles as both individuals
and learners with LD; understanding about their LD
diagnosis; and awareness of opportunities for their careers
and education (Sebag, 2010). More specifically, a case
study suggested that a self-advocacy behavior management
program was able to support a student with LD transform
from a student with failing grades and classroom behavior
problems into an “A” student who became a role model to
her peers (Sebag, 2010). Indeed, self-advocacy is a strong
predictor of achievement as it relates to a student’s GPA,
a frequently used indicator of student success, for college
students with disabilities (Fleming et al., 2017). Clearly, a
strong case exists for self-advocacy being critical to student
success.
Although most research on self-advocacy focuses on
how it impacts post-secondary education, some promising
research shows that self-advocacy helps people with
LD adjust to their employment (Doren & Kang, 2016).
Indeed, self-advocacy skills are predictive of successful
employment for individuals with LD (Cheong et al., 2013).
This type of research is limited, but critical, because people
with LD struggle to find employment, compared to their
non-LD counterparts (Siperstein et al., 2013; Shattuck et
al., 2012).
Self-Determination
Self-determination is defined as a person’s ability to
make choices based on an understanding of one’s own
goals and personal needs, and it includes an individual’s
ability to accept the consequences of those choices (Martin
& Marshall, 1995; Rowe et al., 2015). Self-determination is
closely related to self-advocacy, and studies have also shown
self-determination to be an underlying factor in several
successful outcomes for individuals with LD. This includes
results from a longitudinal study on people with learning
and cognitive disabilities (Wehmeyer & Palmer, 2003).
Findings from this study indicated that when people with
LD have high levels of self-determination, they are more
likely to live independently, be financially independent,
and be employed (including employment with medical
and vacation benefits). Other research showed that selfdetermination
is positively and significantly correlated
with GPAs, an indicator of student success (Brockelman,
2009). Additional research replicated the finding that
self-determination has a positive impact on GPAs and
demonstrated that self-determination increases student
retention, employment and reduces distress (Jameson,
2007; Solberg et al., 2012). Self-determination may also
be an important predictor of success measures that are
not directly related to academics and employment. For
example, one study found a positive relationship between
self-determination and life-satisfaction for people with
LD (Arunashree et al., 2016). These studies indicate that
self-determination may be a potent predictor of multiple
student success measures.
Social Support
Social support for people with LD can come from
multiple sources, such as family, teachers, and peers. Feeling
socially supported is predictive of life satisfaction (Stack-
Cutler et al., 2015), positive self-perceptions (Demaray
et al., 2009), successful adjustment to post-secondary
education (Murray et al., 2013), mental health (Harandi et
al., 2017), employment (Perreault et al., 2017), and college
GPA (Dennis et al., 2005). More specifically, research
shows a multitude of positive outcomes for students with
LD who feel support from their families. Families that
provide emotional support (Ginieri-Coccossis et al., 2013)
can increase self-esteem (Nalavany et al., 2015), because
this type of support acts as a buffer for the negative
emotional experiences stemming from LD (Carawan et al.,
2016). Consequently, SwLD with more supportive families
were found to have higher levels of academic achievement
(Heiman & Berger, 2008; Wagner et al., 2006) and were
DeBono et al.
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 35 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
more likely to achieve their career goals (Lindstrom & Benz,
2002). More specifically, parental involvement (Wagner et
al., 2014) and expectations (Mazzotti et al., 2016) for their
children to live independently and to be employed may be
important predictors for postsecondary outcomes.
This population of students may also benefit from
having supportive teachers, who spur persistence in learning
(Núñez et al., 2020). SwLD who have supportive teachers
also have positive academic (Gatlin & Wilson, 2016; Kiuru
et al., 2013; Suldo et al., 2009) and employment outcomes
(Fullarton & Duquette, 2015). In one longitudinal study
of SwLD, their overall use of support systems was a better
predictor of success than other factors, such as IQ and
academic achievement (Raskind et al., 1999). Therefore,
social support, particularly from teachers and families,
may play a key role in determining success for students
with LD.
Student Success
While much published work primarily focuses on
specific student success measures for SwLD, such as college
attendance and employment (Mazzotti et al., 2016), the
Higher Learning Commission recently proposed a more
inclusive definition of student success as the “attainment
of learning outcomes, personal satisfaction and goal/
intent attainment, job placement and career advancement,
civic and life skills, social and economic well-being, and
commitment to lifelong learning” (Higher Learning
Commission, 2018, p. 7). Thus, while college attendance
and employment remain important to the assessment
process, they provide a limited view of success that are not
representative of the whole student, particularly students
with LD. To provide a more comprehensive metric of
student success, researchers have proposed to broaden how
researchers measure student success to include satisfaction
measures, such as life satisfaction (Trapmann et al.,
2007). Indeed, satisfaction measures may better assess an
individual’s overall happiness with life (Tay et al., 2015).
Researchers are making strides to broaden the definition of
student success (e.g., Krachman et al., 2016) and, in practice,
colleges (e.g., Indiana State University, Nazareth College,
Youngstown State University) are moving to a broader
definition of student success, one that includes satisfaction
and achievement of academic, personal, and employment
goals (Cuseo, 2007). In the present study, student success
is measured in a broader way through both traditional
measures of student success (e.g., college attendance,
employment) and by further expanding the definition of
student success to include several satisfaction measures
that are less commonly used to measure student success,
but are more commonly measured in LD populations and
other underrepresented groups: employment (Madaus et
al., 2008), relationship status (Jackson et al., 2018), postsecondary
education (Rabren et al., 2013), and current
living situation (Raskind et al., 1999).
Gap in Knowledge
While plentiful research exists on factors that
contribute to student success, comparatively fewer studies
have investigated factors that predict student success for
SwLD (Raskind et al., 1999; Mazzotti et al., 2016; Rowe et
al., 2015; Test et al., 2009). Indeed, much research tends to
focus on SwLD’s susceptibility to unsuccessful outcomes,
such as unemployment (Aro et al., 2019) and incarceration
(McKenzie et al., 2012). Few studies have investigated a
population of SwLD who have found success as well as the
factors that have contributed to that success, such as what
underlying factors (e.g., supportive teachers and families)
may foster these predictors (e.g., self-advocacy). Also,
studies have examined more expansive views of student
success to include satisfaction with life outcomes (e.g.,
employment, relationship status). The study reported in
this paper will address this knowledge gap.
Study Site: Winston Preparatory School
Winston Preparatory School (Winston) is an
independent school in the United States with eight
campuses (including an online campus that provides a
live, full-day curriculum to students across the nation)
nationwide exclusively for K-12+ students with LD, all
but one located in the northeast. A large proportion of
Winston’s students are public school students who receive
funding from government sources to attend Winston;
Winston campuses range from 11%–49% of students who
are publicly funded as Connors cases (in states where this
information is reported to Winston). In short, Winston’s
mission is to “facilitate the independence and meaningful
participation of students with specific learning disorders”
to develop skill acquisition and become independent
learners (Winston Preparatory School, n.d.).
At Winston, teachers provide intense skill remediation
and explicitly foster social and emotional learning (e.g.,
self-advocacy). This educational model has demonstrated
some impressive student outcomes: Winston students
are over 30% more likely to graduate from high school
(Winston: 99.7%, SwLD nationwide: 65.5%) and 25% more
likely to attend college (Winston: 79.3%, SwLD nationwide:
54%; Hirano, 2018; Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014; U.S.
Department of Education, 2017). Winston developed a
research department, the Winston Innovation Lab, which
partnered with an outside organization, the National
School Climate Center, to develop research studies with
the aim of better understanding SwLD and their lives postgraduation.
Their first study together demonstrated other
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 36 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
Success in People With Learning Disabilities
remarkable outcomes for Winston students, including
high levels of: job satisfaction, happiness, physical/mental
health, and self-reported success (DeBono et al., 2021).
They also rated the quality of their relationships highly.
This entire sample reported attending college, and most
were employed (61.1%). Nearly all participants reported
having someone who they could rely on for support
(94.4%). The present study was developed to better
understand these findings.
Hypotheses
Researchers anticipated that social and emotional
learning (i.e., self-advocacy and self-determination), social
connections, and social support from family and teachers
would predict several student outcomes: overall life
satisfaction, employment satisfaction, current relationship
status, current living situation, and satisfaction with their
post-secondary education. This study also included an
exploratory component—researchers wanted to better
understand what Winston does well to prepare students for
adulthood and how Winston could improve its practices.
Method
Participants
Winston alumni who graduated between 2000-2015
(N = 515) were eligible to participate and were recruited via
email. Sixty-three alumni (12.2% of eligible alumni) chose
to participate and reported that they either graduated
from Winston’s New York campus (N = 46), Connecticut
campus (N = 16) or the Transitions campus, a campus
for SwLD not yet ready to graduate high school and
designed to prepare them for life after high school (N =
1). Most participants indicated their learning or attention
issue was identified in elementary school (63.5%) and
relatively fewer in middle school (15.9%) or high school
(1.6%). Some participants could not remember when
their learning or attention issue was identified (9.5%) and
others did not respond to this question (9.5%).
In terms of gender, 20 participants identified as female,
20 as male, one identified as neither gender, and 22 did
not respond to the gender question. The racial makeup of
the sample was mostly White (60.3%), but also included
several other racial groups: Asian (9.5%), Latino/Latina/
Hispanic (7.9%), Black/African (4.7%), American Indian/
Alaskan Native (3.2%), and Other (1.6%). The remaining
participants (N = 8) did not respond to the race question.
Regarding their learning and attention challenges (see
Table 1), a minority reported difficulties with speaking,
listening, reading, and memory. Most participants
reported difficulties with math, social and emotional
skills, attention, and writing.
Table 1
Participants’ Learning and Attention Issues
Learning and Attention Issue Percentage
Math 68.3%
Social and Emotional 61.9%
Attention 61.9%
Writing 60.3%
Memory 44.4%
Reading 31.7%
Listening 20.6%
Speaking 20.6%
Research Design
Researchers designed this survey study to examine
the predictors of student outcomes (e.g., satisfaction with
relationships, employment, life). These predictors included:
supportive teachers, supportive home life, self-advocacy,
self-determination/perseverance, and social connections.
Measures
Demographic Survey
Participants reported their race, gender identity,
employment status, relationship status and education
history (e.g., which Winston campuses they attended,
and the highest level of education completed). To
assess learning and attention issues, researchers asked
participants to checkmark items from the following list,
if they experienced difficulties with any of them: social/
emotional, math, attention, organization, writing, memory,
speaking, reading, and listening.
National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD)
Student Voices Survey (2015)
NCLD developed the Student Voices Survey specifically
for people with LD to collect information about their
transition from high school to adulthood (NCLD, 2015).
Researchers selected items from this survey to assess
factors (e.g., supportive teachers and home life) that may
predict satisfaction with: life, relationships, employment,
post-secondary education, and current living situation.
Researchers combined several survey items to form
subscales and their internal consistency was acceptable:
supportive home life in high school (5 items, e.g., I felt
my parents/guardians always had high expectations of
my success, a = .81), high school social connections (12
items, e.g., I had a set of close friends, a= .81), high school
self-determination/perseverance (9 items, I considered
both my strengths and weaknesses when setting goals for
DeBono et al.
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 37 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
myself, a = .89), high school self-advocacy (7 items, e.g.,
I knew what my strengths are, a = .88), supportive high
school teacher (3 items, e.g., I had a teacher or teachers
who made sure I understood things, e.g., a =.90), postsecondary
social connections (10 items, e.g., I have a set
of close friends, a= .81), post-secondary self-advocacy (10
items, e.g., I can approach and talk to teachers on my own
to discuss my needs, a= .76), and self-determination postsecondary
(7 items, e.g., I take credit for good decisions in
my life, a = .81). Participants rated the items composing
these subscales on a 0 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly
agree) scale. A single item from this survey also assessed
how much the participants’ LD affected their employment,
rated on a 0 (caused no problems) to 3 (causes a lot of
problems) scale.
Open-Ended Questions
Participants responded to two open-ended questions:
“How did Winston Prep most help you prepare for and/or
adjust to life after high school?” and “What could Winston
Prep offer to help current students and/or alumni prepare
for and/or adjust to life after high school?”
Procedure
Researchers emailed participants a link to an
anonymous online survey (see Measures), which did
not capture participants’ names or other identifying
information (although the survey did capture, for data
integrity, email addresses to create an approved list of
login IDs). Participants could skip questions they did not
want to answer. Researchers provided participants with an
electronic gift card to thank them for their participation.
Results
Descriptive Statistics
Generally, participants reported that they were several
years past their high school graduation (Myears = 5.13,
SDyears = 4.07), and all participants reported that they had
at least some post-secondary education. Most participants
indicated that they had been employed since attending
high school (71.4%), but a minority reported current
employment being either full-time (20.6%) or part-time
(26.0%). Some participants reported that they took part
in internships and apprenticeships (9.5% paid, 6.3%
unpaid). When reporting their highest level of education,
a minority indicated some college experience (35%) and
others responded that they had a two-year college degree/
associate’s degree (11.1%), four-year college degree/
bachelor’s degree (27%), or an advanced degree (6%).
This sample of Winston alumni notably indicated their
LD caused few problems at work (M = .89, SD = .78) and
that they were satisfied with life and employment (see Table
2 for means and standard deviations). These alumni also
reported satisfaction with their current living situation,
romantic partner, and current relationship status —a
minority reported being single (42.9%). However, only one
participant reported being married. No one reported being
divorced, separated, or widowed. Participants also reported
that during high school, they rated highly their: supportive
home life, social connections in high school, participation
in high school activities, self-determination/perseverance,
self-advocacy, and having supportive teachers.
Predictors of Student Success Measures
Pearson correlation analyses revealed several
significant relationships between measured variables (i.e.,
supportive homelife, supportive teachers, self-advocacy,
self-determination/perseverance, social connections)
and life satisfaction measures (overall life satisfaction,
employment satisfaction, satisfaction with current living
situation, satisfaction with post-secondary education,
and satisfaction with current relationship status) that
researchers predicted would correlate (see Table 2).
Although having a supportive homelife and teachers did
not significantly correlate with life satisfaction measures,
these two variables significantly related to three high
school characteristics: self-advocacy, self-determination/
perseverance, and social connections. These three
characteristics, in turn, correlated with self-advocacy, selfdetermination,
and social connections in post-secondary
education. Researchers also identified consistent and
significant relationships between the five life satisfaction
measures and these three post-secondary characteristics.
All satisfaction measures were positively correlated and
most significantly correlated with one another.
Non-parametric, Spearman correlation analyses
were conducted using the above measured variables with
employment status and enrollment in a 2 or 4-year college.
Several significant correlations emerged; high school
self-advocacy and enrollment in a 2-year college were
positively and significantly correlated (r = .59, p < .001),
but a surprisingly negative correlation for enrollment
in a 4-year college (r = -.38, p = .014). Satisfaction with
current living situation was significantly and negatively
related to enrollment in a 4-year college, r = -.33, p = .026.
Employment status was not significantly related to any
measured variables, ps > .08.
Self-Advocacy
Researchers conducted several regression analyses
to assess how well supportive teachers and supportive
homelives predicted participants’ self-advocacy in high
school (see Table 3). Supportive high school teachers and
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 38 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
Success in People With Learning Disabilities
homelives both significantly predicted higher levels of
high school self-advocacy. To determine whether having
supportive teachers or a supportive home life was a better
predictor of high school self-advocacy, both predictors
were entered simultaneously in a multiple regression
analysis. Results indicated that both remained significant
predictors. In turn, high school self-advocacy predicted
post-secondary self-advocacy. Post-secondary selfadvocacy
significantly predicted all satisfaction outcomes:
satisfaction with current living situation, satisfaction with
employment, satisfaction with post-secondary education,
current relationship status satisfaction, and overall life
satisfaction.
Table 2
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for Continuous Variables
SUCCESS IN PEOPLE WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES 14
Table 2
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for Continuous Variables
Variables M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1. HS Supportive
Homelife
3.35 .75 -
2. HS Supportive
Teachers
3.53 .81 .20 -
3. HS Self-
Advocacy
3.14 .85 .36* .77** -
4. HS Social
Connections
2.75 .71 .40** .37* .48** -
5. HS Self-
Determination
2.98 .82 .36* .69** .67** .36* -
6. PS Self-
Advocacy
2.82 .61 .56** .01 .31 .31* .27 -
7. PS Social
Connections
2.70 .75 .39* .19 .14 .54** .27 .38* -
8. PS Self-
Determination
3.32 .57 .31 .24 .34* .30 .48** .70** .46** -
9. Life Satisfaction 3.02 .95 .59** .17 .30* .49** .45** .66** .64** .57** -
10. PS Education
Satisfaction
2.76 1.18 .19 .18 .28 .38* .34* .63** .44** .55** .57** -
11. Living
Situation
Satisfaction
2.76 1.20 .43** .27 .15 .46** .20 .51** .47** .46** .47** .27 -
12. Relationship
Status Satisfaction
2.80 1.28 .18 .01 .01 .19 -.02 .34* .62** .28 .32* .17 .25 -
13. Employment
Satisfaction
2.55 1.15 .40** -.06 0.09 0.20 0.14 .47** .32* .38* .60** .41** .34* .09
Note. All items were rated on a 0 to 4 scale. *p < .05, **p < .001
Predictors of Student Success Measures
Pearson correlation analyses revealed several significant relationships between measured
variables (i.e., supportive homelife, supportive teachers, self-advocacy, selfDeBono
et al.
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 39 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
Table 3
Simple and Simultaneous Regression Analyses
Self-Determination/Perseverance
Like the self-advocacy analyses, regression analyses
were performed with self-determination/perseverance as
the predictor. Having supportive high school teachers and
a supportive home life both uniquely and significantly predicted
self-determination/perseverance for participants
in high school. Like the self-advocacy analyses, when re-
SUCCESS IN PEOPLE WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES 16
Simple and Simultaneous Regression Analyses
Regression
Type
Outcome Predictor B SE t p
Simple High School Self-Advocacy Supportive High School Teachers .80 .11 7.60 <.001
Supportive Homelife .42 .17 2.47 .018
Simultaneous High School Self-Advocacy Supportive High School Teachers .76 .11 7.26 <.001
Supportive Homelife .25 .11 2.19 .034
Simple Post-Secondary Self-
Advocacy
High School Self-Advocacy 2.19 1.09 2.01 .052
Simple Living Situation Satisfaction Post-Secondary Self-Advocacy .09 .02 3.78 <.001
Employment Satisfaction Post-Secondary Self-Advocacy .09 .03 3.33 .002
Post-Secondary Satisfaction Post-Secondary Self-Advocacy .12 .02 5.24 <.001
Relationship Satisfaction Post-Secondary Self-Advocacy .07 .03 2.26 .030
Life Satisfaction Post-Secondary Self-Advocacy .11 .02 5.63 <.001
Simple High School Self-
Determination/ Perseverance
Supportive High School Teachers .72 .12 6.10 <.001
Supportive Homelife .40 .17 2.37 .023
Simultaneous High School Self-
Determination/ Perseverance
Supportive High School Teachers .68 .11 6.14 <.001
Supportive Homelife .29 .12 2.38 .023
Simple Post-Secondary Self-
Determination/ Perseverance
High School Self-Determination/
Perseverance
.34 .10 3.35 .002
Simple Living Situation Satisfaction Post-Secondary Self-
Determination/ Perseverance
.84 .26 3.30 .002
Employment Satisfaction .81 .31 2.62 .012
Post-Secondary Satisfaction 1.15 .27 4.26 <.001
Relationship Satisfaction .60 .33 1.83 .074
Life Satisfaction .96 .22 4.41 <.001
Simple High School Social
Connections
Supportive High School Teachers .32 .13 2.51 .016
Supportive Homelife .38 .14 2.75 .009
Simultaneous High School Social
Connections
Supportive High School Teachers .26 .12 2.12 .041
Supportive Homelife .32 .13 2.38 .022
Simple Post-Secondary Social
Connections
High School Social Connections .56 .14 3.97 <.001
Simple Living Situation Satisfaction Post-Secondary Social
Connections
.77 .22 3.42 .001
Employment Satisfaction .51 .23 2.17 .035
Post-Secondary Satisfaction .70 .22 3.24 .002
Relationship Satisfaction 1.10 .22 5.09 <.001
Life Satisfaction .83 .15 5.48 <.001
Self-Determination/Perseverance
searchers simultaneously entered both supportive high
school teachers and a supportive home life as predictors
of high school self-determination/perseverance, both remained
significant predictors. High school self-determination/
perseverance significantly predicted post-secondary
self-determination/perseverance. Post-secondary self-determination/
perseverance had a significant and positive efLearning
Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 40 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
Success in People With Learning Disabilities
fect on most satisfaction measures: overall life satisfaction,
current living situation, employment, and post-secondary
education. Post-secondary self-determination/perseverance
predicted satisfaction with current relationship status,
but this finding was marginally significant.
Social Connections
Again, researchers performed regression analyses, but
used social connections in place of self-advocacy and selfdetermination.
When individually entered, supportive high
school teachers and a supportive home life were significant
predictors of high school social connections. When
researchers simultaneously entered both as predictors,
supportive high school teachers and a supportive home life
both remained significant predictors of high school social
connections. Likewise, high school social connections
predicted social connections in post-secondary school.
These post-secondary social connections significantly
predicted all life satisfaction outcomes: overall life
satisfaction, employment satisfaction, current relationship
status, current living situation, and satisfaction with their
post-secondary education.
Open-Ended Questions
Thirty-five participants responded to the question,
“How did Winston Prep most help you prepare for and/or
adjust to life after high school?” Four main themes emerged
from a thematic analysis of participants’ responses. Sixteen
participants referenced skills and strategies that they
learned while attending Winston, such as social skills
and essay writing. For example, one participant stated,
“By teaching me social skills. This enabled me to interact
with my peers and fashion friendships after Winston.”
Eight participants stated that Winston helped them
develop their confidence, as illustrated by this participant’s
response: “Gave me confidence in the legitimacy of my
intellectual capabilities, even if as a young person I still
had many confidence issues that were very complex in
nature.” Six participants stated that the self-advocacy they
learned while attending Winston helped them greatly after
high school, as indicated by this participant’s statement:
“Winston taught me how to self-advocate, and not to be
ashamed of my learning difference.” Four participants
referred to the supportive environment Winston created,
such as this alum: “It created an environment for me to
effectively learn subjects and ready to take on some college
level work.”
One fewer participant responded to the next openended
question (N = 34): “What could Winston Prep offer
to help current students and/or alumni prepare for and/or
adjust to life after high school?” Five main themes emerged
from a thematic analysis of the responses to this question.
Ten participants wished Winston had done more to
prepare them for adulthood. For example, one alum stated,
“I would say one of my biggest struggles after graduating
high school was keeping good track of my personal budget/
spending…”, while another alum suggested:
I would say that it would be much easier if there
was a way to prepare students for the sudden
rise in responsibility that they will be faced with,
because it can be really frightening to think about
making a transition to a more independent life.
Six participants wished the curriculum at Winston
was tougher on students, as demonstrated by this alum:
“I was not academically challenged at Winston, and I feel
thus I was not conditioned to put effort into my work.
I would offer more challenging courses at Winston.”
Another six also wished they were more prepared for
college, as exemplified by a participant who stated, “A few
lecture based classes to seniors on the difference in course
load between high school and college.” Five participants
wanted more interactions with alumni, as indicated in this
participant’s response: “Bring in alumni to speak to classes
and give there (sic) college or work advice to students or
parents during open houses.” Two participants thought
that Winston should maintain the status quo, as indicated
by this alum:
I believe that their system is just fine the way it is.
It had (sic) helped hundreds of students become
successful, and given them the opportunity to
get a higher education rather than allow their
disabilities to take hold of their lives.
Discussion
These results provided possible explanations for why
Winston and NSCC’s first collaborative study revealed
that Winston alumni were generally quite satisfied with
their lives after attending Winston. Clearly, support from
their teachers and families played an important role in
their successful outcomes. Notably, both quantitative and
qualitative data suggested that learning social skills such
as self-advocacy and self-determination, as well as having
good social connections, may be outcomes of having these
two strong support systems, which may explain why these
types of support are predictive of alumni success.
The qualitative findings also indicated what Winston
was doing well to prepare their students, which may be
helpful to teachers and administrators at other schools
serving an LD population. The participants indicated that
Winston taught them skills and strategies that were helpful
post-graduation. Indeed, social and emotional learning
DeBono et al.
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 41 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
was a common theme in the student responses. Learning
social skills, gaining confidence, and becoming selfadvocates
were important lessons for this sample of LD
alumni. This bolsters the quantitative evidence indicating
the importance of social and emotional learning on life
outcomes.
These results also highlighted how Winston might
improve, which also may be helpful for other schools
teaching students with LD. A substantial portion of the
respondents suggested that Winston could better prepare
them for adulthood. For example, the school could provide
lessons to help them learn how to keep a budget. Financial
literacy, once commonplace in schools nationwide, is
today only required in high school in 15 states (Fox, 2021).
This oversight may be particularly detrimental for SwLD,
because people with learning disabilities may be at greater
risk of being victims of financial fraud or other types of
financial abuse (Brown, 1999). While the current findings
were limited to Winston alumni, it is quite possible
that SwLD at other schools would greatly benefit from
having financial literacy and other lessons related to the
responsibilities of adulthood in their curriculum.
Notably, most of these skills and types of social
support did not predict several student success measures as
predicted: employment, attendance at a four-year college, or
the highest level of educational attainment. Consequently,
these findings add to a broader conversation around the
question, “What is student success?” Is student success
related to finding happiness and satisfaction in multiple
life domains? Or is student success limited to measures
such as GPA and graduating college in four years? Indeed,
what is the point of these measures if these high-achieving
students are unhappy and unsatisfied with life? Future
research would likely benefit from a clearer definition of
student success, particularly one that addresses LD student
success.
Limitations and Future Directions
While these findings fill in a gap in the current
knowledge about success for SwLD, this study has several
limitations. Although researchers made greater efforts to
obtain a larger sample size than their first collaboration
with NSCC by expanding eligibility, which nearly doubled
the sample size since their first collaborative project,
the sample in this study was still not large enough to
determine if self-advocacy, self-determination, and social
connections mediated the relationship between the two
social support measures and the life satisfaction measures.
Ideally, future studies should have sufficient power to
conduct these types of analyses, and better recruitment
strategies should be in place for future research. Another
limitation was that several participants did not respond to
several questions, particularly the open-ended questions,
which limited researchers’ ability to generalize about
the studies’ findings. In particular, future studies should
ensure participants do not accidentally skip questions, so
that researchers can more fully test the study hypotheses.
Additionally, these findings are limited due to to this study
focusing solely on Winston alumni, making it difficult to
generalize to successful SwLD in other education settings.
Nevertheless, this study does indicate that ensuring
students feel supported by their teachers and families, as
well as students developing strong social and emotional
skills, may be strong predictors for LD student success,
which is consistent with previous research (e.g., Gatlin &
Wilson, 2016; Wehmeyer, & Palmer, 2003).
An oversight from this study was that researchers did
not include college GPA, a frequently used measure of
student success. Are teacher and home life social support
and social skills predictive of college GPA in an LD
population? Research certainly exists that indicates that
supporting SwLD in college via disability support services
(e.g., Abreu et al., 2017; Canto et al., 2005) is predictive
of higher GPAs, but is this relationship due to the social
support or the academic skills they learn through these
support services? The findings from this study suggests
that the social support SwLD receive may be at least as
important as the academic skills they learn. Clearly, more
research is needed to determine exactly what aspects of
disability support services precipitates this relationship.
Longitudinal research may provide greater insight
into why some SwLD lead successful lives. A 20-year
longitudinal study from the Frostig Center found that
a composite score based on six “success attributes” (selfawareness,
perseverance, proactivity, emotional stability,
goal setting, and social support) predicted most of the
variance in a success measure based on employment,
education, and living arrangements (Raskind et al., 1999).
The findings of these two studies align well with this
research, but also suggests that these success attributes
may extend beyond employment, education, and living
arrangements to include satisfaction with these outcomes.
Perhaps tracking these students over time may reveal
important predictors of these multiple measures of LD
student success.
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Amber DeBono is the Director of Research at the
Winston Preparatory School’s Innovation Lab.
Julia English Julia English was a Teacher at Winston
Preparatory School and a Research Assistant for Winston
Preparatory School’s Innovation Lab. She is currently a Data
Analyst for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary
and Secondary Education.
Michele Heimbauer is the Associate Director of
Winston Preparatory School’s Innovation Lab.
Elizabeth Mendelsohn is the Chief Operating Officer
and director of Winston Preparatory School’s Innovation
Lab.
Jonathan Cohen is an Adjunct Professor at Teacher’s
College, Columbia University and Senior Advisor to
Winston Preparatory School’s Innovation Lab.
Please send correspondence to Amber DeBono,
adebono@winstonprep.edu
Amber DeBono
Julia English
Michele Heimbauer
Elizabeth Mendelsohn
Jonathan Cohen
Although students with learning disabilities (SwLD) are at greater risk (compared to typical learners) for dropping out of high school, not attending college, and unemployment, some SwLD lead successful lives (Aro et al., 2019; Mazzotti et al., 2021; Wagner et al., 2005). Little, however, is known as to what factors support this subset of SwLD in defying the odds and achieving success by graduating from college and leading satisfying lives. Alumni from Winston Preparatory School (Winston), a school exclusively for SwLD that has a strong track record for high school graduation and college attendance, were recruited for this study. Results from a previous study on Winston alumni indicated all attended college and most: graduated college, were employed, and had someone who socially supported them. The present study described in this paper built on these findings. Results indicated that when students felt supported by teachers and people at home, they were more likely to report high levels of three social and emotional learning skills which predicted several measures of student success. These results may offer possible explanations for why certain SwLD succeed but more research, possibly longitudinal, is needed to gain a more thorough understanding of the factors involved.
Keywords: Learning disabilities, social and emotional learning, student success
Introduction
People with specific learning disabilities1 (LD) face challenges that their counterparts without LD do not, including psychosocial challenges that create potential disparities in achievement including: academic achievement, employment, and mental health. For example, people with LD have higher rates of unemployment (Siperstein et al., 2013; Shattuck et al., 2012), are less likely to finish college (Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014), have lower college grade point averages or GPAs (Hen & Goroshit, 2012) and have higher rates of depression and suicide (Fuller-Thompson et al., 2018). Furthermore, as compared to people who do not have LD, people with LD experience difficulties in daily living, socially isolate, and have emotional health problems (Gerber, 2012). Nevertheless, there are many people with LD who are achieving success in employment, academic study, and in their overall well-being (Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014). Research suggests that several factors—such as self-advocacy, self-determination, and social support—are predictive of people with LD achieving success in these areas (Wagner et al., 2006; Test et al., 2009; Mazzotti et al., 2016).
https://doi.org/10.18666/LDMJ-2023-V28-I1-11671
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 33 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
1Specific learning disabilities, includes disorders “in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations” (IDEA, 2004) and related disorders (Frolov & Schaepper, 2021; Learning Disabilities Association, 2021) such as: dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, written expression disorder, and ADHD.
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 34 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
Success in People With Learning Disabilities
Self-Advocacy
Self-advocacy is defined as a person’s ability to
communicate their wants and needs to find the support
required to fulfill them (Stodden et al., 2003). People with
LD often need self-advocacy skills so that they can face
the challenges they encounter in college and employment
(White et al., 2014). Despite plentiful research that points to
the importance of self-advocacy, skills tied to self-advocacy
are not typically taught in school, even though these skills
may be particularly important for LD student success
(Daly-Cano et al., 2015). In one study, when college special
services centers were asked how “secondary schools could
better prepare students with LD for college” (p. 468), the
most popular response was that secondary schools should
improve students’ self-advocacy skills (suggested by 66.7%
of the sample; Janiga & Costenbader, 2002).
Self-advocacy is also predictive of many positive
psychosocial outcomes. In one experimental study, students
with LD (SwLD) who were assigned to participate in a selfadvocacy
program had higher basic psychological skills,
such as competence, than SwLD who did not participate
in the program (Kotzer & Margalit, 2007). In addition to
competency, a literature review on self-advocacy in LD
populations concluded that self-advocacy could improve:
understanding of the self, social connectedness, access
to opportunities (e.g., advisory boards), and feelings of
control that prompt individuals with LD to advocate
for their rights (Tilley et al., 2020). Additional research
also indicates that self-advocacy can improve students’:
awareness about employment and academic support
services; understanding of their roles as both individuals
and learners with LD; understanding about their LD
diagnosis; and awareness of opportunities for their careers
and education (Sebag, 2010). More specifically, a case
study suggested that a self-advocacy behavior management
program was able to support a student with LD transform
from a student with failing grades and classroom behavior
problems into an “A” student who became a role model to
her peers (Sebag, 2010). Indeed, self-advocacy is a strong
predictor of achievement as it relates to a student’s GPA,
a frequently used indicator of student success, for college
students with disabilities (Fleming et al., 2017). Clearly, a
strong case exists for self-advocacy being critical to student
success.
Although most research on self-advocacy focuses on
how it impacts post-secondary education, some promising
research shows that self-advocacy helps people with
LD adjust to their employment (Doren & Kang, 2016).
Indeed, self-advocacy skills are predictive of successful
employment for individuals with LD (Cheong et al., 2013).
This type of research is limited, but critical, because people
with LD struggle to find employment, compared to their
non-LD counterparts (Siperstein et al., 2013; Shattuck et
al., 2012).
Self-Determination
Self-determination is defined as a person’s ability to
make choices based on an understanding of one’s own
goals and personal needs, and it includes an individual’s
ability to accept the consequences of those choices (Martin
& Marshall, 1995; Rowe et al., 2015). Self-determination is
closely related to self-advocacy, and studies have also shown
self-determination to be an underlying factor in several
successful outcomes for individuals with LD. This includes
results from a longitudinal study on people with learning
and cognitive disabilities (Wehmeyer & Palmer, 2003).
Findings from this study indicated that when people with
LD have high levels of self-determination, they are more
likely to live independently, be financially independent,
and be employed (including employment with medical
and vacation benefits). Other research showed that selfdetermination
is positively and significantly correlated
with GPAs, an indicator of student success (Brockelman,
2009). Additional research replicated the finding that
self-determination has a positive impact on GPAs and
demonstrated that self-determination increases student
retention, employment and reduces distress (Jameson,
2007; Solberg et al., 2012). Self-determination may also
be an important predictor of success measures that are
not directly related to academics and employment. For
example, one study found a positive relationship between
self-determination and life-satisfaction for people with
LD (Arunashree et al., 2016). These studies indicate that
self-determination may be a potent predictor of multiple
student success measures.
Social Support
Social support for people with LD can come from
multiple sources, such as family, teachers, and peers. Feeling
socially supported is predictive of life satisfaction (Stack-
Cutler et al., 2015), positive self-perceptions (Demaray
et al., 2009), successful adjustment to post-secondary
education (Murray et al., 2013), mental health (Harandi et
al., 2017), employment (Perreault et al., 2017), and college
GPA (Dennis et al., 2005). More specifically, research
shows a multitude of positive outcomes for students with
LD who feel support from their families. Families that
provide emotional support (Ginieri-Coccossis et al., 2013)
can increase self-esteem (Nalavany et al., 2015), because
this type of support acts as a buffer for the negative
emotional experiences stemming from LD (Carawan et al.,
2016). Consequently, SwLD with more supportive families
were found to have higher levels of academic achievement
(Heiman & Berger, 2008; Wagner et al., 2006) and were
DeBono et al.
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 35 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
more likely to achieve their career goals (Lindstrom & Benz,
2002). More specifically, parental involvement (Wagner et
al., 2014) and expectations (Mazzotti et al., 2016) for their
children to live independently and to be employed may be
important predictors for postsecondary outcomes.
This population of students may also benefit from
having supportive teachers, who spur persistence in learning
(Núñez et al., 2020). SwLD who have supportive teachers
also have positive academic (Gatlin & Wilson, 2016; Kiuru
et al., 2013; Suldo et al., 2009) and employment outcomes
(Fullarton & Duquette, 2015). In one longitudinal study
of SwLD, their overall use of support systems was a better
predictor of success than other factors, such as IQ and
academic achievement (Raskind et al., 1999). Therefore,
social support, particularly from teachers and families,
may play a key role in determining success for students
with LD.
Student Success
While much published work primarily focuses on
specific student success measures for SwLD, such as college
attendance and employment (Mazzotti et al., 2016), the
Higher Learning Commission recently proposed a more
inclusive definition of student success as the “attainment
of learning outcomes, personal satisfaction and goal/
intent attainment, job placement and career advancement,
civic and life skills, social and economic well-being, and
commitment to lifelong learning” (Higher Learning
Commission, 2018, p. 7). Thus, while college attendance
and employment remain important to the assessment
process, they provide a limited view of success that are not
representative of the whole student, particularly students
with LD. To provide a more comprehensive metric of
student success, researchers have proposed to broaden how
researchers measure student success to include satisfaction
measures, such as life satisfaction (Trapmann et al.,
2007). Indeed, satisfaction measures may better assess an
individual’s overall happiness with life (Tay et al., 2015).
Researchers are making strides to broaden the definition of
student success (e.g., Krachman et al., 2016) and, in practice,
colleges (e.g., Indiana State University, Nazareth College,
Youngstown State University) are moving to a broader
definition of student success, one that includes satisfaction
and achievement of academic, personal, and employment
goals (Cuseo, 2007). In the present study, student success
is measured in a broader way through both traditional
measures of student success (e.g., college attendance,
employment) and by further expanding the definition of
student success to include several satisfaction measures
that are less commonly used to measure student success,
but are more commonly measured in LD populations and
other underrepresented groups: employment (Madaus et
al., 2008), relationship status (Jackson et al., 2018), postsecondary
education (Rabren et al., 2013), and current
living situation (Raskind et al., 1999).
Gap in Knowledge
While plentiful research exists on factors that
contribute to student success, comparatively fewer studies
have investigated factors that predict student success for
SwLD (Raskind et al., 1999; Mazzotti et al., 2016; Rowe et
al., 2015; Test et al., 2009). Indeed, much research tends to
focus on SwLD’s susceptibility to unsuccessful outcomes,
such as unemployment (Aro et al., 2019) and incarceration
(McKenzie et al., 2012). Few studies have investigated a
population of SwLD who have found success as well as the
factors that have contributed to that success, such as what
underlying factors (e.g., supportive teachers and families)
may foster these predictors (e.g., self-advocacy). Also,
studies have examined more expansive views of student
success to include satisfaction with life outcomes (e.g.,
employment, relationship status). The study reported in
this paper will address this knowledge gap.
Study Site: Winston Preparatory School
Winston Preparatory School (Winston) is an
independent school in the United States with eight
campuses (including an online campus that provides a
live, full-day curriculum to students across the nation)
nationwide exclusively for K-12+ students with LD, all
but one located in the northeast. A large proportion of
Winston’s students are public school students who receive
funding from government sources to attend Winston;
Winston campuses range from 11%–49% of students who
are publicly funded as Connors cases (in states where this
information is reported to Winston). In short, Winston’s
mission is to “facilitate the independence and meaningful
participation of students with specific learning disorders”
to develop skill acquisition and become independent
learners (Winston Preparatory School, n.d.).
At Winston, teachers provide intense skill remediation
and explicitly foster social and emotional learning (e.g.,
self-advocacy). This educational model has demonstrated
some impressive student outcomes: Winston students
are over 30% more likely to graduate from high school
(Winston: 99.7%, SwLD nationwide: 65.5%) and 25% more
likely to attend college (Winston: 79.3%, SwLD nationwide:
54%; Hirano, 2018; Cortiella & Horowitz, 2014; U.S.
Department of Education, 2017). Winston developed a
research department, the Winston Innovation Lab, which
partnered with an outside organization, the National
School Climate Center, to develop research studies with
the aim of better understanding SwLD and their lives postgraduation.
Their first study together demonstrated other
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 36 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
Success in People With Learning Disabilities
remarkable outcomes for Winston students, including
high levels of: job satisfaction, happiness, physical/mental
health, and self-reported success (DeBono et al., 2021).
They also rated the quality of their relationships highly.
This entire sample reported attending college, and most
were employed (61.1%). Nearly all participants reported
having someone who they could rely on for support
(94.4%). The present study was developed to better
understand these findings.
Hypotheses
Researchers anticipated that social and emotional
learning (i.e., self-advocacy and self-determination), social
connections, and social support from family and teachers
would predict several student outcomes: overall life
satisfaction, employment satisfaction, current relationship
status, current living situation, and satisfaction with their
post-secondary education. This study also included an
exploratory component—researchers wanted to better
understand what Winston does well to prepare students for
adulthood and how Winston could improve its practices.
Method
Participants
Winston alumni who graduated between 2000-2015
(N = 515) were eligible to participate and were recruited via
email. Sixty-three alumni (12.2% of eligible alumni) chose
to participate and reported that they either graduated
from Winston’s New York campus (N = 46), Connecticut
campus (N = 16) or the Transitions campus, a campus
for SwLD not yet ready to graduate high school and
designed to prepare them for life after high school (N =
1). Most participants indicated their learning or attention
issue was identified in elementary school (63.5%) and
relatively fewer in middle school (15.9%) or high school
(1.6%). Some participants could not remember when
their learning or attention issue was identified (9.5%) and
others did not respond to this question (9.5%).
In terms of gender, 20 participants identified as female,
20 as male, one identified as neither gender, and 22 did
not respond to the gender question. The racial makeup of
the sample was mostly White (60.3%), but also included
several other racial groups: Asian (9.5%), Latino/Latina/
Hispanic (7.9%), Black/African (4.7%), American Indian/
Alaskan Native (3.2%), and Other (1.6%). The remaining
participants (N = 8) did not respond to the race question.
Regarding their learning and attention challenges (see
Table 1), a minority reported difficulties with speaking,
listening, reading, and memory. Most participants
reported difficulties with math, social and emotional
skills, attention, and writing.
Table 1
Participants’ Learning and Attention Issues
Learning and Attention Issue Percentage
Math 68.3%
Social and Emotional 61.9%
Attention 61.9%
Writing 60.3%
Memory 44.4%
Reading 31.7%
Listening 20.6%
Speaking 20.6%
Research Design
Researchers designed this survey study to examine
the predictors of student outcomes (e.g., satisfaction with
relationships, employment, life). These predictors included:
supportive teachers, supportive home life, self-advocacy,
self-determination/perseverance, and social connections.
Measures
Demographic Survey
Participants reported their race, gender identity,
employment status, relationship status and education
history (e.g., which Winston campuses they attended,
and the highest level of education completed). To
assess learning and attention issues, researchers asked
participants to checkmark items from the following list,
if they experienced difficulties with any of them: social/
emotional, math, attention, organization, writing, memory,
speaking, reading, and listening.
National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD)
Student Voices Survey (2015)
NCLD developed the Student Voices Survey specifically
for people with LD to collect information about their
transition from high school to adulthood (NCLD, 2015).
Researchers selected items from this survey to assess
factors (e.g., supportive teachers and home life) that may
predict satisfaction with: life, relationships, employment,
post-secondary education, and current living situation.
Researchers combined several survey items to form
subscales and their internal consistency was acceptable:
supportive home life in high school (5 items, e.g., I felt
my parents/guardians always had high expectations of
my success, a = .81), high school social connections (12
items, e.g., I had a set of close friends, a= .81), high school
self-determination/perseverance (9 items, I considered
both my strengths and weaknesses when setting goals for
DeBono et al.
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 37 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
myself, a = .89), high school self-advocacy (7 items, e.g.,
I knew what my strengths are, a = .88), supportive high
school teacher (3 items, e.g., I had a teacher or teachers
who made sure I understood things, e.g., a =.90), postsecondary
social connections (10 items, e.g., I have a set
of close friends, a= .81), post-secondary self-advocacy (10
items, e.g., I can approach and talk to teachers on my own
to discuss my needs, a= .76), and self-determination postsecondary
(7 items, e.g., I take credit for good decisions in
my life, a = .81). Participants rated the items composing
these subscales on a 0 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly
agree) scale. A single item from this survey also assessed
how much the participants’ LD affected their employment,
rated on a 0 (caused no problems) to 3 (causes a lot of
problems) scale.
Open-Ended Questions
Participants responded to two open-ended questions:
“How did Winston Prep most help you prepare for and/or
adjust to life after high school?” and “What could Winston
Prep offer to help current students and/or alumni prepare
for and/or adjust to life after high school?”
Procedure
Researchers emailed participants a link to an
anonymous online survey (see Measures), which did
not capture participants’ names or other identifying
information (although the survey did capture, for data
integrity, email addresses to create an approved list of
login IDs). Participants could skip questions they did not
want to answer. Researchers provided participants with an
electronic gift card to thank them for their participation.
Results
Descriptive Statistics
Generally, participants reported that they were several
years past their high school graduation (Myears = 5.13,
SDyears = 4.07), and all participants reported that they had
at least some post-secondary education. Most participants
indicated that they had been employed since attending
high school (71.4%), but a minority reported current
employment being either full-time (20.6%) or part-time
(26.0%). Some participants reported that they took part
in internships and apprenticeships (9.5% paid, 6.3%
unpaid). When reporting their highest level of education,
a minority indicated some college experience (35%) and
others responded that they had a two-year college degree/
associate’s degree (11.1%), four-year college degree/
bachelor’s degree (27%), or an advanced degree (6%).
This sample of Winston alumni notably indicated their
LD caused few problems at work (M = .89, SD = .78) and
that they were satisfied with life and employment (see Table
2 for means and standard deviations). These alumni also
reported satisfaction with their current living situation,
romantic partner, and current relationship status —a
minority reported being single (42.9%). However, only one
participant reported being married. No one reported being
divorced, separated, or widowed. Participants also reported
that during high school, they rated highly their: supportive
home life, social connections in high school, participation
in high school activities, self-determination/perseverance,
self-advocacy, and having supportive teachers.
Predictors of Student Success Measures
Pearson correlation analyses revealed several
significant relationships between measured variables (i.e.,
supportive homelife, supportive teachers, self-advocacy,
self-determination/perseverance, social connections)
and life satisfaction measures (overall life satisfaction,
employment satisfaction, satisfaction with current living
situation, satisfaction with post-secondary education,
and satisfaction with current relationship status) that
researchers predicted would correlate (see Table 2).
Although having a supportive homelife and teachers did
not significantly correlate with life satisfaction measures,
these two variables significantly related to three high
school characteristics: self-advocacy, self-determination/
perseverance, and social connections. These three
characteristics, in turn, correlated with self-advocacy, selfdetermination,
and social connections in post-secondary
education. Researchers also identified consistent and
significant relationships between the five life satisfaction
measures and these three post-secondary characteristics.
All satisfaction measures were positively correlated and
most significantly correlated with one another.
Non-parametric, Spearman correlation analyses
were conducted using the above measured variables with
employment status and enrollment in a 2 or 4-year college.
Several significant correlations emerged; high school
self-advocacy and enrollment in a 2-year college were
positively and significantly correlated (r = .59, p < .001),
but a surprisingly negative correlation for enrollment
in a 4-year college (r = -.38, p = .014). Satisfaction with
current living situation was significantly and negatively
related to enrollment in a 4-year college, r = -.33, p = .026.
Employment status was not significantly related to any
measured variables, ps > .08.
Self-Advocacy
Researchers conducted several regression analyses
to assess how well supportive teachers and supportive
homelives predicted participants’ self-advocacy in high
school (see Table 3). Supportive high school teachers and
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 38 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
Success in People With Learning Disabilities
homelives both significantly predicted higher levels of
high school self-advocacy. To determine whether having
supportive teachers or a supportive home life was a better
predictor of high school self-advocacy, both predictors
were entered simultaneously in a multiple regression
analysis. Results indicated that both remained significant
predictors. In turn, high school self-advocacy predicted
post-secondary self-advocacy. Post-secondary selfadvocacy
significantly predicted all satisfaction outcomes:
satisfaction with current living situation, satisfaction with
employment, satisfaction with post-secondary education,
current relationship status satisfaction, and overall life
satisfaction.
Table 2
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for Continuous Variables
SUCCESS IN PEOPLE WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES 14
Table 2
Descriptive Statistics and Correlations for Continuous Variables
Variables M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1. HS Supportive
Homelife
3.35 .75 -
2. HS Supportive
Teachers
3.53 .81 .20 -
3. HS Self-
Advocacy
3.14 .85 .36* .77** -
4. HS Social
Connections
2.75 .71 .40** .37* .48** -
5. HS Self-
Determination
2.98 .82 .36* .69** .67** .36* -
6. PS Self-
Advocacy
2.82 .61 .56** .01 .31 .31* .27 -
7. PS Social
Connections
2.70 .75 .39* .19 .14 .54** .27 .38* -
8. PS Self-
Determination
3.32 .57 .31 .24 .34* .30 .48** .70** .46** -
9. Life Satisfaction 3.02 .95 .59** .17 .30* .49** .45** .66** .64** .57** -
10. PS Education
Satisfaction
2.76 1.18 .19 .18 .28 .38* .34* .63** .44** .55** .57** -
11. Living
Situation
Satisfaction
2.76 1.20 .43** .27 .15 .46** .20 .51** .47** .46** .47** .27 -
12. Relationship
Status Satisfaction
2.80 1.28 .18 .01 .01 .19 -.02 .34* .62** .28 .32* .17 .25 -
13. Employment
Satisfaction
2.55 1.15 .40** -.06 0.09 0.20 0.14 .47** .32* .38* .60** .41** .34* .09
Note. All items were rated on a 0 to 4 scale. *p < .05, **p < .001
Predictors of Student Success Measures
Pearson correlation analyses revealed several significant relationships between measured
variables (i.e., supportive homelife, supportive teachers, self-advocacy, selfDeBono
et al.
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 39 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
Table 3
Simple and Simultaneous Regression Analyses
Self-Determination/Perseverance
Like the self-advocacy analyses, regression analyses
were performed with self-determination/perseverance as
the predictor. Having supportive high school teachers and
a supportive home life both uniquely and significantly predicted
self-determination/perseverance for participants
in high school. Like the self-advocacy analyses, when re-
SUCCESS IN PEOPLE WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES 16
Simple and Simultaneous Regression Analyses
Regression
Type
Outcome Predictor B SE t p
Simple High School Self-Advocacy Supportive High School Teachers .80 .11 7.60 <.001
Supportive Homelife .42 .17 2.47 .018
Simultaneous High School Self-Advocacy Supportive High School Teachers .76 .11 7.26 <.001
Supportive Homelife .25 .11 2.19 .034
Simple Post-Secondary Self-
Advocacy
High School Self-Advocacy 2.19 1.09 2.01 .052
Simple Living Situation Satisfaction Post-Secondary Self-Advocacy .09 .02 3.78 <.001
Employment Satisfaction Post-Secondary Self-Advocacy .09 .03 3.33 .002
Post-Secondary Satisfaction Post-Secondary Self-Advocacy .12 .02 5.24 <.001
Relationship Satisfaction Post-Secondary Self-Advocacy .07 .03 2.26 .030
Life Satisfaction Post-Secondary Self-Advocacy .11 .02 5.63 <.001
Simple High School Self-
Determination/ Perseverance
Supportive High School Teachers .72 .12 6.10 <.001
Supportive Homelife .40 .17 2.37 .023
Simultaneous High School Self-
Determination/ Perseverance
Supportive High School Teachers .68 .11 6.14 <.001
Supportive Homelife .29 .12 2.38 .023
Simple Post-Secondary Self-
Determination/ Perseverance
High School Self-Determination/
Perseverance
.34 .10 3.35 .002
Simple Living Situation Satisfaction Post-Secondary Self-
Determination/ Perseverance
.84 .26 3.30 .002
Employment Satisfaction .81 .31 2.62 .012
Post-Secondary Satisfaction 1.15 .27 4.26 <.001
Relationship Satisfaction .60 .33 1.83 .074
Life Satisfaction .96 .22 4.41 <.001
Simple High School Social
Connections
Supportive High School Teachers .32 .13 2.51 .016
Supportive Homelife .38 .14 2.75 .009
Simultaneous High School Social
Connections
Supportive High School Teachers .26 .12 2.12 .041
Supportive Homelife .32 .13 2.38 .022
Simple Post-Secondary Social
Connections
High School Social Connections .56 .14 3.97 <.001
Simple Living Situation Satisfaction Post-Secondary Social
Connections
.77 .22 3.42 .001
Employment Satisfaction .51 .23 2.17 .035
Post-Secondary Satisfaction .70 .22 3.24 .002
Relationship Satisfaction 1.10 .22 5.09 <.001
Life Satisfaction .83 .15 5.48 <.001
Self-Determination/Perseverance
searchers simultaneously entered both supportive high
school teachers and a supportive home life as predictors
of high school self-determination/perseverance, both remained
significant predictors. High school self-determination/
perseverance significantly predicted post-secondary
self-determination/perseverance. Post-secondary self-determination/
perseverance had a significant and positive efLearning
Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 40 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
Success in People With Learning Disabilities
fect on most satisfaction measures: overall life satisfaction,
current living situation, employment, and post-secondary
education. Post-secondary self-determination/perseverance
predicted satisfaction with current relationship status,
but this finding was marginally significant.
Social Connections
Again, researchers performed regression analyses, but
used social connections in place of self-advocacy and selfdetermination.
When individually entered, supportive high
school teachers and a supportive home life were significant
predictors of high school social connections. When
researchers simultaneously entered both as predictors,
supportive high school teachers and a supportive home life
both remained significant predictors of high school social
connections. Likewise, high school social connections
predicted social connections in post-secondary school.
These post-secondary social connections significantly
predicted all life satisfaction outcomes: overall life
satisfaction, employment satisfaction, current relationship
status, current living situation, and satisfaction with their
post-secondary education.
Open-Ended Questions
Thirty-five participants responded to the question,
“How did Winston Prep most help you prepare for and/or
adjust to life after high school?” Four main themes emerged
from a thematic analysis of participants’ responses. Sixteen
participants referenced skills and strategies that they
learned while attending Winston, such as social skills
and essay writing. For example, one participant stated,
“By teaching me social skills. This enabled me to interact
with my peers and fashion friendships after Winston.”
Eight participants stated that Winston helped them
develop their confidence, as illustrated by this participant’s
response: “Gave me confidence in the legitimacy of my
intellectual capabilities, even if as a young person I still
had many confidence issues that were very complex in
nature.” Six participants stated that the self-advocacy they
learned while attending Winston helped them greatly after
high school, as indicated by this participant’s statement:
“Winston taught me how to self-advocate, and not to be
ashamed of my learning difference.” Four participants
referred to the supportive environment Winston created,
such as this alum: “It created an environment for me to
effectively learn subjects and ready to take on some college
level work.”
One fewer participant responded to the next openended
question (N = 34): “What could Winston Prep offer
to help current students and/or alumni prepare for and/or
adjust to life after high school?” Five main themes emerged
from a thematic analysis of the responses to this question.
Ten participants wished Winston had done more to
prepare them for adulthood. For example, one alum stated,
“I would say one of my biggest struggles after graduating
high school was keeping good track of my personal budget/
spending…”, while another alum suggested:
I would say that it would be much easier if there
was a way to prepare students for the sudden
rise in responsibility that they will be faced with,
because it can be really frightening to think about
making a transition to a more independent life.
Six participants wished the curriculum at Winston
was tougher on students, as demonstrated by this alum:
“I was not academically challenged at Winston, and I feel
thus I was not conditioned to put effort into my work.
I would offer more challenging courses at Winston.”
Another six also wished they were more prepared for
college, as exemplified by a participant who stated, “A few
lecture based classes to seniors on the difference in course
load between high school and college.” Five participants
wanted more interactions with alumni, as indicated in this
participant’s response: “Bring in alumni to speak to classes
and give there (sic) college or work advice to students or
parents during open houses.” Two participants thought
that Winston should maintain the status quo, as indicated
by this alum:
I believe that their system is just fine the way it is.
It had (sic) helped hundreds of students become
successful, and given them the opportunity to
get a higher education rather than allow their
disabilities to take hold of their lives.
Discussion
These results provided possible explanations for why
Winston and NSCC’s first collaborative study revealed
that Winston alumni were generally quite satisfied with
their lives after attending Winston. Clearly, support from
their teachers and families played an important role in
their successful outcomes. Notably, both quantitative and
qualitative data suggested that learning social skills such
as self-advocacy and self-determination, as well as having
good social connections, may be outcomes of having these
two strong support systems, which may explain why these
types of support are predictive of alumni success.
The qualitative findings also indicated what Winston
was doing well to prepare their students, which may be
helpful to teachers and administrators at other schools
serving an LD population. The participants indicated that
Winston taught them skills and strategies that were helpful
post-graduation. Indeed, social and emotional learning
DeBono et al.
Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal 41 2023, Volume 28, Number 1
was a common theme in the student responses. Learning
social skills, gaining confidence, and becoming selfadvocates
were important lessons for this sample of LD
alumni. This bolsters the quantitative evidence indicating
the importance of social and emotional learning on life
outcomes.
These results also highlighted how Winston might
improve, which also may be helpful for other schools
teaching students with LD. A substantial portion of the
respondents suggested that Winston could better prepare
them for adulthood. For example, the school could provide
lessons to help them learn how to keep a budget. Financial
literacy, once commonplace in schools nationwide, is
today only required in high school in 15 states (Fox, 2021).
This oversight may be particularly detrimental for SwLD,
because people with learning disabilities may be at greater
risk of being victims of financial fraud or other types of
financial abuse (Brown, 1999). While the current findings
were limited to Winston alumni, it is quite possible
that SwLD at other schools would greatly benefit from
having financial literacy and other lessons related to the
responsibilities of adulthood in their curriculum.
Notably, most of these skills and types of social
support did not predict several student success measures as
predicted: employment, attendance at a four-year college, or
the highest level of educational attainment. Consequently,
these findings add to a broader conversation around the
question, “What is student success?” Is student success
related to finding happiness and satisfaction in multiple
life domains? Or is student success limited to measures
such as GPA and graduating college in four years? Indeed,
what is the point of these measures if these high-achieving
students are unhappy and unsatisfied with life? Future
research would likely benefit from a clearer definition of
student success, particularly one that addresses LD student
success.
Limitations and Future Directions
While these findings fill in a gap in the current
knowledge about success for SwLD, this study has several
limitations. Although researchers made greater efforts to
obtain a larger sample size than their first collaboration
with NSCC by expanding eligibility, which nearly doubled
the sample size since their first collaborative project,
the sample in this study was still not large enough to
determine if self-advocacy, self-determination, and social
connections mediated the relationship between the two
social support measures and the life satisfaction measures.
Ideally, future studies should have sufficient power to
conduct these types of analyses, and better recruitment
strategies should be in place for future research. Another
limitation was that several participants did not respond to
several questions, particularly the open-ended questions,
which limited researchers’ ability to generalize about
the studies’ findings. In particular, future studies should
ensure participants do not accidentally skip questions, so
that researchers can more fully test the study hypotheses.
Additionally, these findings are limited due to to this study
focusing solely on Winston alumni, making it difficult to
generalize to successful SwLD in other education settings.
Nevertheless, this study does indicate that ensuring
students feel supported by their teachers and families, as
well as students developing strong social and emotional
skills, may be strong predictors for LD student success,
which is consistent with previous research (e.g., Gatlin &
Wilson, 2016; Wehmeyer, & Palmer, 2003).
An oversight from this study was that researchers did
not include college GPA, a frequently used measure of
student success. Are teacher and home life social support
and social skills predictive of college GPA in an LD
population? Research certainly exists that indicates that
supporting SwLD in college via disability support services
(e.g., Abreu et al., 2017; Canto et al., 2005) is predictive
of higher GPAs, but is this relationship due to the social
support or the academic skills they learn through these
support services? The findings from this study suggests
that the social support SwLD receive may be at least as
important as the academic skills they learn. Clearly, more
research is needed to determine exactly what aspects of
disability support services precipitates this relationship.
Longitudinal research may provide greater insight
into why some SwLD lead successful lives. A 20-year
longitudinal study from the Frostig Center found that
a composite score based on six “success attributes” (selfawareness,
perseverance, proactivity, emotional stability,
goal setting, and social support) predicted most of the
variance in a success measure based on employment,
education, and living arrangements (Raskind et al., 1999).
The findings of these two studies align well with this
research, but also suggests that these success attributes
may extend beyond employment, education, and living
arrangements to include satisfaction with these outcomes.
Perhaps tracking these students over time may reveal
important predictors of these multiple measures of LD
student success.
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Amber DeBono is the Director of Research at the
Winston Preparatory School’s Innovation Lab.
Julia English Julia English was a Teacher at Winston
Preparatory School and a Research Assistant for Winston
Preparatory School’s Innovation Lab. She is currently a Data
Analyst for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary
and Secondary Education.
Michele Heimbauer is the Associate Director of
Winston Preparatory School’s Innovation Lab.
Elizabeth Mendelsohn is the Chief Operating Officer
and director of Winston Preparatory School’s Innovation
Lab.
Jonathan Cohen is an Adjunct Professor at Teacher’s
College, Columbia University and Senior Advisor to
Winston Preparatory School’s Innovation Lab.
Please send correspondence to Amber DeBono,
adebono@winstonprep.edu