Locus of Control and Learning Disabilities: A Review and Discussion

Abstract

It has been widely reported that an external locus of control is associated with children who experience failure. A review of the relevant literature indicates that learning disabled children, like other groups of children who have experienced failure, are more likely to exhibit an external locus of control than their normally achieving peers. In particular, learning disabled children have been found to be more likely than normally achieving students to attribute their successes, but not their failures, to external factors. The relationship of the locus of control construct to the field of learning disabilities is discussed in terms of four questions: (1) what is the relationship between locus of control and academic achievement?, (2) how is locus of control related to learned helplessness?, (3) is a change in locus of control orientation desirable?, and (4) what is the utility of locus of control for the education of learning disabled children? It is concluded that, in the course of remediation, attention should be devoted to the entire syndrome of characteristics associated with failure but within the context of academic intervention.