SWIMMING UPSTREAM: STUDENT RESEARCH TOWARD REFRAMING CONCEPTUALIZATION OF LEARNING DISABILITY IN AN INDEPENDENT SCHOOL

Abstract

Private schools can be unwelcoming environments for students with “learning disabilities” who “swim upstream” against inordinate challenges. In this study, an 11th grade student, John, developed and implemented a student-led investigation to understand how he was experienced as a student with learning disabilities and how he may have influenced the views and practices of his teachers. Several themes emerged from teacher interviews such as teachers existing in a novice stage for LD, new perceptions that accommodations can drive student success, and teachers’ desire for openness about learning needs and profiling of the “right” students to include. This study, a student-led critical examination of self and system, contributes to the larger discourse on students with diverse cognitive profiles and has implications for school leaders’ development of expanded teacher perspectives and improved learning support in private schools. The student presented his findings at several conferences. He then presented to the school diversity and learning support task force, and then was invited to speak to the entire K-12 faculty and staff.