Life Success
For Students With Learning Disabilities:
A Parent Guide

What is Success?

Success is not easy to define. It means different things to different people. In addition, it may mean something different at different times in a person's life. However, although views of success may differ, there appear to be a number of things that most people include when they think of success. These include good friends, positive family relations, being loved, self-approval, job satisfaction, physical and mental health, financial comfort, spiritual contentment, and an overall sense of meaning in one's life. Of course, different individuals may place lesser or greater emphasis on these various components of success.

How Do Children With Learning Disabilities Become Successful Adults?

Children with learning disabilities grow up to be adults with learning disabilities. That is, many of the difficulties experienced in childhood continue into and through adulthood. Nevertheless, some individuals with learning disabilities follow a life path that leads them to success, becoming productive members of society and living satisfying and rewarding lives. Others find little more than continued "failure," and are barely able to "keep their heads above water" emotionally, socially, or financially. Why, despite similar backgrounds and learning problems, does one individual end up with a rewarding career, long-term friendships, and financial stability, yet another, a life of loneliness, isolation, and financial stress? Learning disabilities research has provided some answers to this question.

Our research at the Frostig Center,² as well as several major studies by others,³ has focused on identifying which factors contribute to success for individuals with learning disabilities. Results from these projects point to the importance of a set of personal characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors that can help lead persons with learning disabilities to successful life outcomes. By tracing the lives of individuals with learning disabilities throughout the lifespan, these studies have revealed a number of "success attributes" that guide an individual to either positive or negative adult outcomes.

Next: What Are The Success Attributes? >>

² Marshall H. Raskind, Roberta J. Goldberg, Eleanor L. Higgins, and Kenneth L. Herman. Patterns of Change and Predictors of Success in Individuals with Learning Disabilities: Results from a TwentyYear Longitudinal Study, Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 1999; Roberta J. Goldberg, Eleanor L. Higgins, Marshall H. Raskind, and Kenneth L. Herman. Predictors of Success in Individuals with Learning Disabilities: A Qualitative Analysis of a 20-Year Longitudinal Study, Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, in press.

³ Henry B. Reiff, Paul J. Gerber, Rick Ginsberg. Exceeding Expectations: Successful Adults with Learning Disabilities. Pro-ed, 1997. Emmy E. Werner and Ruth S. Smith, Overcoming the Odds: High Risk Children from Birth to Adulthood. Cornell University Press, 1992.