Sources Used by Education Students to Conceptualize Learning Disabilities

Abstract

An earlier investigation indicated that the education students in this sample gave estimates of the prevalence of learning disabilities that were 4 times greater than those given by experts. In the present study, we identified the sources of information these students used to conceptualize and estimate the prevalence of these disabilities. These 140 first-year education students cited direct contact with persons identified as learning disabled as the primary individual source and personal experience as the primary type of source they used to form conceptions of learning disabilities. These findings raise questions about the effects exposure to possible stereotypes of learning disabilities and their resolution may have on the practices of educators. Faculty must present research to students so stereotypical views of pupils who have difficulty learning in school and the solutions to their problems are questioned.