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Stress Management for the Learning Disabled
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Stress Management for the Learning Disabled. ERIC Digest #452. School-related stress is the most prevalent, untreated cause of academic failure in our schools. It is believed to afflict an alarming 6 to 10 million children a year (Barker 1987). In a classroom of 25 students, between one and three students are at high risk for developing stress-related problems which would probably interfere with learning (Hill and Sarason 1966).

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Achievement stress, the widespread "invisible disability," is rarely detected but generally gets worse as children progress through school (Hill and Wigfield, 1984). Untreated achievement stress may result in academic failure, behavioral or emotional problems, drug abuse, health problems, and even suicide.

Even though it has been demonstrated that reducing stress significantly improves the performance of learning disabled children in reading, arithmetic, spelling (Frey, 1980), and handwriting (Hughes, Jackson, DuBois, and Erwin, 1979), stress management programs in the schools are almost nonexistent (Rubenzer, 1984, 1987). Stress management has also been effective in improving attentional skills (Omizo and Michael, 1982) of children with attention problems.

Since the stressed children of today will be the Type A adults of the 21st century, treating stress in the schools now may well relax our dangerously stressed society in the future. Currently, stress-related mental disorders are 200 to 400% more prevalent than any other emotional problem requiring clinical treatment (American Psychiatric Association, 1980). Valium, a medication used to relieve stress, is currently the most widely prescribed medication in the United States, thus indicating the epidemic proportions of stress in our society today (Cawood, 1981).

WHAT IS STRESS?

Stress is the physiological and emotional reaction to psychological events. Any event triggering the formerly life-saving, ancient "fight or flight" response is a stressor. The constraints of modern society clearly prohibit fleeing from or physically resisting most stressful events (e.g., running out of a classroom when a surprise test is given, arguing with the teacher not to give a test). Unrelieved, the cumulative, physical strain generated by psychological stress can harm the body. Stress is often experienced as a consistent, exaggerated, and overwhelming sense of urgency, often coupled with frustration.

Achievement stress, triggered by school tasks, is a learned, inappropriate distress habit which impairs school performance. The many faces of achievement stress include test anxiety (Sarason and others, 1960), math anxiety (Tobias, 1980), stage fright (e.g., public speaking, fear of boardwork in front of the class), writer's block, etc.

WHAT ARE POSSIBLE CAUSES OF ACHIEVEMENT STRESS FOR THE LEARNING DISABLED (LD)?

SCHOOL FACTORS: Achievement stress may be the result as well as the cause of poor academic performance. The precise role of stress in academic performance is blurred because of the complexity of anxiety's origin, measurement, and manipulation. However, The negative relationship between stress and impaired performance is well established.

SPECIAL EDUCATION FACTORS: In addition to the great achievement demands (Elkind, 1981) experienced by all students, learning disabled children may be at particular risk for achievement stress due to frustration stemming from:

1. Insensitivity of significant others who treat these children as if they choose not to perform, when in fact they cannot perform at their ability level.

2. Self-concept confusion resulting from the vast gap between being able to keep up with the class in some modes (e.g., oral discussion, group work, artistic and creative expression, athletics, etc.) and discrepantly poor academic performance in other modes (reading, writing, boardwork, standardized achievement tests, etc.).

3. Dependency on the special education teacher for academic survival and the separation anxiety of having this school "life raft" pulled out from under them if they must leave the program.

4. Labels (formal and otherwise) attached to these children by both teachers and students, and the isolation and rejection associated with being in any special education class.

5. Hesitancy to ask clarifying questions because of the fear of drawing further criticism.

These frustrations magnify the achievement stress for LD students and place them at particular risk for stress-related underachievement.

HOW DOES STRESS "DIM ABILITY"?

The emotional discomfort of worry, feelings of being overwhelmed, and the unpleasant physical sensations of anxiety (cold, sweaty hands, butterflies in the stomach, fidgeting and squirming, etc.) distract attention from subtle cognitive tasks. Stress can serve as a signal for a panic reaction, or an anxiety attack (e.g., blanking out during a test).

Stress can also trigger a "flight" response leading to careless "rushing errors" (missing important details, inadvertently marking wrong responses on tests, poor handwriting, etc.) resulting from the strong urge to escape from the unpleasant test situation. A child may learn to avoid stress-producing tasks, a behavior which results in poorer performance, and thus amplifies the child's fear of failure at the task in the future. The aim of stress management is to break the link between irrelevant stress reactions (diffused attention, fear, etc.) and academic tasks.

Disorders - Learning Disorders