Academic Support and College Success for Postsecondary Students with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

The relationship between degree of academic support center use and college success was examined in a population of 262 college students with learning disabilities. Five years of attendance data and graduation rates were examined and submitted to discriminant function analysis to evaluate the predictive influence of academic support center use on college student outcomes. Results indicated that students who had higher levels of attendance in an academic support center had higher overall grade point averages and higher rates of graduation. That is to say, students with learning disabilities who attended learning support centers regularly were more likely to have higher grades and graduate college than those who did not.

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Notes on contributors

Peter F. Troiano

Peter F. Troiano, Ph.D. is the Assistant Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs at Southern Connecticut State University. His doctoral research was on the meaning that students with learning disabilities make of their college experience. Dr. Troiano's areas of specialization include providing support services to students with learning disabilities, students on the autism spectrum, and students with psychological and emotional disorders. Dr. Troiano has developed several working models for student affairs to address adjustment to college and he has extensive experience working with students in distress. Julie Ann Liefeld, Ph.D. is the Vice President of Student Affairs / Dean of Students at Mitchell College in New London, CT. Dr. Liefeld's areas of specialization are focused on positive youth development, families in life transitions, and young adult adjustment particularly issues of transition to college related to diagnosed learning disabilities or mental health disabilities. She is a licensed nurse and marriage and family therapist. Jennifer V. Trachtenberg, Ph.D. is an adjunct faculty member in the Psychology Department at Worcester State College. She is also a consultant for the Center for Applied Research in Human Development at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Trachtenberg's area of specialization is focused on familial and societal well-being: work-life issues and family violence. She is additionally interested in child development, beginning with conception. She also has extensive experience with evaluation.

Julie Ann Liefeld

Peter F. Troiano, Ph.D. is the Assistant Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs at Southern Connecticut State University. His doctoral research was on the meaning that students with learning disabilities make of their college experience. Dr. Troiano's areas of specialization include providing support services to students with learning disabilities, students on the autism spectrum, and students with psychological and emotional disorders. Dr. Troiano has developed several working models for student affairs to address adjustment to college and he has extensive experience working with students in distress. Julie Ann Liefeld, Ph.D. is the Vice President of Student Affairs / Dean of Students at Mitchell College in New London, CT. Dr. Liefeld's areas of specialization are focused on positive youth development, families in life transitions, and young adult adjustment particularly issues of transition to college related to diagnosed learning disabilities or mental health disabilities. She is a licensed nurse and marriage and family therapist. Jennifer V. Trachtenberg, Ph.D. is an adjunct faculty member in the Psychology Department at Worcester State College. She is also a consultant for the Center for Applied Research in Human Development at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Trachtenberg's area of specialization is focused on familial and societal well-being: work-life issues and family violence. She is additionally interested in child development, beginning with conception. She also has extensive experience with evaluation.

Jennifer V. Trachtenberg

Peter F. Troiano, Ph.D. is the Assistant Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs at Southern Connecticut State University. His doctoral research was on the meaning that students with learning disabilities make of their college experience. Dr. Troiano's areas of specialization include providing support services to students with learning disabilities, students on the autism spectrum, and students with psychological and emotional disorders. Dr. Troiano has developed several working models for student affairs to address adjustment to college and he has extensive experience working with students in distress. Julie Ann Liefeld, Ph.D. is the Vice President of Student Affairs / Dean of Students at Mitchell College in New London, CT. Dr. Liefeld's areas of specialization are focused on positive youth development, families in life transitions, and young adult adjustment particularly issues of transition to college related to diagnosed learning disabilities or mental health disabilities. She is a licensed nurse and marriage and family therapist. Jennifer V. Trachtenberg, Ph.D. is an adjunct faculty member in the Psychology Department at Worcester State College. She is also a consultant for the Center for Applied Research in Human Development at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Trachtenberg's area of specialization is focused on familial and societal well-being: work-life issues and family violence. She is additionally interested in child development, beginning with conception. She also has extensive experience with evaluation.