Disampaikan pada: International Conference of Indigenous and Cultural Psychology, Yogyakarta, July, 24-26, 2010
daptation for Ghildren with Learning Disorders
Oleh:
Amitya Kumara
Faculty of Psychology
Gadjah Mada University
Disampaikan pada:
International Conference of Indigenous and Cultural Psychology,
Yogyakarta, July, 24-26, 2010
Self adaptation for children
with learning disorders
Deparrmen
r
"r
ro**iltifi"fi:T; fi.",,, or psychorogy
Gadjah Mada University
Abstract Students with learning difliculties
need special treatment to help them to
achieve the optimum result in their study. However, their special needs are often
neglected by pubtic schools, in these schools they are treated as normal childlpn.
The failure to fulfill the needs of these special students will cause learning difficulties and low achievement.
The research was ,conducted 8t som€ elementary schools which were classified
by the local department of education oflice as elementary schools with the lowest
rank, these schools ane located in Depok sub-distria ofSleman, Yogyakarta. The
sulrjects of this study wcrc 52 students with leaming disorder. The procedures for
(l) Searched information from the local office of detlw subject sampling
'rere:
pafiment of national educalion about thc existence and information of the lowest,
rank elementary school in Depok, Sleman. Yogyakarta. (2) Chose the schools that
would be used as the sub.jects of thc research. (3) Used the student's learning
disorder identifrcation instrument. (4) Administered the CPM intelligence test from
Raven.
The reeearch subjercts were comprised of 36 male students and 15 fernale students, lhe average age was I l years old. The IQ scorc (in percentile) was72.l43
for male with SD
15,,892
12.459 on the SD.
Alll of the research subjects suffered from learning disorder
while the fernale students' IQ score was 75.6E2 and
which include: (l) genreral learning disorder 76.920/o; (2) language comprehension
disorder 71.15%; (3) language expression disorder 21.15%; (4) reading disorder
75.0o/o; (5) writing disorder S0.0%; (6) ariihmetie disorder 38,46t/oi (7) orientation
disorder 3.85%; (8) motor disorder 17.3lo/o; (9) attention and concentration disorder 42.31%; (10) emottional and behavioral disorder 25.f/o and, (l l) communication disorder 9.62%.
The result of the sludy showed that the conhoversial nomination was thc most
prevalent nomination of all with 14 students or 26.9 % showing controversial
nornination, this was liollowed by 13 average students (25.00/"1,
rejected students (21.27o), I neglecled studatts (15.4%), and 6 popular students (l 1.5%). The
nomination comparisons among male students wer€: I I antroversial students, 8
rejected shfientq 8 avrrage stud€nts, 4 nqlected students, and 3 popular students.
Whife on the female side, there were 5 average students, 4 neglecled students, 3
rejected studerrfs,3 cotilroversial students, and 3 popalar students.
ll
Key words: self adaptation, learning disorders, neglected students, popular students. controversial students.
146
A. KUMARA
Elementary education is the stepping-stone to higher education, in elementary
school students are trained with the mastery of basic skills, which include both
general and academic skill, which will be crucial in the mastery of the more
advanced skills later on. Students at elementary level required more attention
bccause in this level students begin their conceptual and character building
phase. Thus, the successful achievement of students in their later study will
depend on their mastery of the basic skill.
Unfortunatr:ly, many students, especially elementary school students, fail to
their
do
assignment due to their inadequate basic skill. Their inadequate mastery
of basic skill is reflected from their imperfect mastery of some or all school
subjects, which in turn lead to insufficient learning achievement. These students
are prone to receive a class promotion or even drop out. These students are often
classified as children with special need. The rate of students who failed to get
promotion in elementary school was l3,lolo while the drop out reached 28oh
(Department of lNational Education/Depdiknas, 200 I ).
Students with learning difficulties need special treatment to help them to
achieve the optirmum result in their study. However, their special needs are often
neglected by public schools, in these schools they are treated as normal children.
The failure to lfulfill the needs of these special students will cause learning
difficulties and low achievement.
Learning a:hievement is determined both by the internal and external factors. The internal factor include physical and psychological factor, while the
external factor consist of adaptation ability, peer acceptance and teacher's
attitude. Chapman (1998) stated, "Most of students with leaming difftculties fail
in school activity, the failure is caused by inadequate cogrritive ability and other
non-intellectual factors including teacher, peer and school".
Ladd (l99CD conducted one ofthe significant studies ofschool adaptation
with leaming achievement. In this research, Ladd showed the significant and
positive contribution of successful adaptation in students leaming achievement
and performance. In her research, Utari (1988) as quoted by Sukarti (2003)
showed the signifisant correlation between school adaptation and leaming
aChievement. Sludents with successful adaptation tlsually perforrned better in
their study, studlents performed better when they ftel secur€ and happy. These
favorable condirlions gave them opportunity for self-actualization and encouraged them to shrdy harder to achievc a bEtter result. Shrdents are said to adapt
succcssfully in lhe school whe,n they are able to show considoration for others,
respect to othem and participate actively in helping each other in school activity
@uhs & Lad4 rl00l).
Successful school adaptation refers to the ideal condition where both the
students and the school environment feel satisfy with the students' attitude. The
acceptanc€ from school acceptance is imperative because self-satisfaction with
their behavior is insufficient for successful adaptation. Students who fail in
SELF-ADAPTION FOR CHILDREN WTTH LEARNING DISORDERS
147
will feel depressed because of their inability to fulfill the
pressure
to
havr: a relationship with their group, to interact with the
social
teacher as well as to participate in class activity. Failure in school adaptation
will have negative imparcts on students, Hurlock (1991) stated, "students will be
unhappy and despisp their own self, as the consequence, students begin to
develop selfish, introvert, unsocial or even anti social attitudes. Without proper
assistance, these attitudes will probably cause mental disturbances, failure to
achieve optimum learning achievement and difficulties in further development.
Ladd (1990) concluded that students with school adaptation difficulty also had
higher level of anxiety and dependency on others, in addition to that they were
also more volatile to failure and showing inferioriry in front of their peers, and
felt that their school assignments were to difficult.
In addition to schrcol adaptation, peer acceptance is very instrumental in
students learning achierrement. Students learn about adaptation and try to adjust
in society as well as other behavioral patterns from their peer. Peer acceptance is
irnportant because it is the reflection of group appreciation on individual.
Experiences with peer rrvill stimulate cognitive development, social skills as well
as social cognition. Peer relationship can function as the medium to learn about
social role, medium to increase moral maturity as well as to reduce egocentrism,
it can also provide sociarl support (Wentzel, 1998); peer relationship can ease the
transition process of dependency to family to the more complicated life
environment (Diehl, et al, 1998); finally peer acceptance also contribute to
stud€nts'perception, pe:rformance and adaptation in their school (Ladd, 1990).
Students with good pe€r acceptance showed better learning result, while
peer rejection increases the risk of academic failure. Some of the characteristic
of students with good pEer acceptance are: confident in being his/her own sell
enthusiastic in giving attention to othen, high self-confident and happiness but
school adaptation
not arrogant, communicate with better clarity, attractive and skillful in
maintaining conversation (Kennedy in Santrock, 2002). Hurlock (1991) added
friendliness, cooperatil'eness, law abiding, ability to adapt without causing
friction, and ability to raccept happily, whatever happens in his/trer life. Other
characteristics include ability to share, willingness to take turn in group play,
responsible, willing to prarticipate.and enjoy social relationship, has a high social
awarenes$ and understanding. Students with good peer acceptance are also
emotionally more mature, and have a better control in their behavior these
students are also more calm, and fi'ee from anxiety, anger orjealously.
There are five categories of peer acceptance; they are: popular, reiected,
neglected, controversial, and average (Wentzel, l99l\, Popular means' many
people are fiond of this student; he/she is disliked by only few people. Controversial on the other refer to a situation in which a student is being liked by some
people but he/she is als,o dislike by others. Average indicate that the acceptance
is only mediocre but urith no rejection. Neglected signiff a condition when
a
148
A. K{.^4ARA
student is being sidelined socially, this type of srudent is often disliked bv
hislher peem, and this condition leave them with only very limited friends.
while Rejected means that a student. is disliked by the vast majority, this
condition is rmarked with aggressive attitude, lack of self-control, anxiety as well
as lack of sor;ial skill, withdrawal, and personal problem.
Another determining factor in the outcome of the learning process is
teacher's attitude towards the students, this is essential since teacheihas a direct
contributiqn in the teaching and learning process. when teachers shows their
emphatic understanding on students' condition, strengths, weaknesses and
conducted th,e learning process based on individual differinces, shrdents will be
more confident because teacher's appreciation and understanding increase their
seltperception as well as pride. on the other hand, students wit ue frustrated
and lose their motivation in their study when teacher portray favoritism and lack
of understanding, this condition will lead to unsatisfactory leaming outcome.
The combination of school adaptation, p€er-acceptance, and teachei's attitude
together with inappropriate educational system will give negative impact on
students' learning achievernent, and making them as underachiJvers.
Leaming; outcome was defined as the average student's score from nine
subjects in elementary school, which includi Religton, ppKN (civics),
Indonesian, lwathematics, sociat studies, Natural scieice, art and handtcrift
skill, sports,.Iavanese, and the art of traditional dance or English. The scores
were obtainedl from the first semesler 2003-2004 Student's progiess report.
school adaptation was defined as student's ability in toping witir the variety of social sinration at school in an effective and responsible manner. Thus,
he/she, in addition to self-satisfaction, may achieve a [armonious relationship
with his4rer surroundings. In this study, the aspects of school adaptation
followed the concept from coie but with nrodification (as stated in Buhs &
Ladd,2001).'rhe aspects were: (l) students' obedience to school regulation, (2)
students' participation in school activity, (3) students, partici-pation and
cooperation in group work, (4) students'healthy and friendlyrelationship with
their peers as well as with theii teacher. The success rate oi school adaitation
was reflected from the score obtained from the school adaptation questionnaire.
High score was a reflection of good and successful school adaptatibn while low
score was an indication of low or unsuccessful school adaptation.
Peer acceptance was defined as 8 process in which a student as a member of
one society oir group was chosen by the group as friend and was allowed to
participate in rthe group activity. For a student peer acceptance was an indicator
of his/her successful role in the group, and it also showed the shrdent was
approved by fiillow group members to work or to play together. peer acceptance
was measurell using the sociometrical nomination consisting positivl and
negative nomi:nation.
SELF.ADAPTION FOR CHILDREN WITH LEARNING
DISORDERS
I4g
Teacher's attitude was.categorized into favorable and unfavorable
attitudes,
in these twor attitudes were the cognition, affection and conation
included
of students' . with learning disoider. There were four aspects
teacher's attitudes (l) the
a*aren"sJ of students' individual biological,
intellectual, and psychologicar differences; (2) The abiriry ro recognize
individual speciar ability in.each
lg99nt; (3) Til wilingness io encourage art
students without showing like or dislike
attiiuae; (4) Th; ability to understand
students' unique conditiorr in. order to give an appropriate response to
herp
students to increase theiir learning achievement. An undirstandingand
favorable
teacher usually scores .a high point and was said to positive aid favorable
to
students with learning disorder.
Finally, students with learning disorder were defined as students who
faced
- -_
difficulty
in accomplishing their academic duty. students with learning disorder
were recognized from the-below average score, and the inconsisten"y bet*e"n
IQ score and learning achievement. The disorder was visible frorn their lack
of
mastery on the basic academic skills (reading, writing, and arithmetic)
as well as
basic
(ranguage comprehension and Jipression, motor disorder,
_goneral skill
-behavioral
components
attention and concentration disorder, emotional and
disorder, and
of these disorder were not cause by any
also comnrunication disorder); art
physical or mental handicap.
The research was conducted at some elementary schools which were classiby the local departnnent of education office as Llementary schools with the
led
lowest
rank, these schLools are located in Depok sub-district of sleman,
Yogyakarta. The,subjects of this study were 52 students with learning
disorder.
The procedures for the subject sarnpling were: (l) searched information
from
the local offrce of deparrtment of nationat educafion about the existence
and
information of the lowest-rank elementary school in Depok, Sleman, yogyakarta. (2) chose ttre sehools that woutd be used as the subiects of the
research.
(3) used the student's leaming disorder identification instrument. (4) Adminis-
tered the CPM intelligen:e test from Raven.
The research subjects were comprised
of 36 male students and 16 female
years old. The Ie score (in percentile) was
male with sD t5.892 while the female shrdents' t
Oleh:
Amitya Kumara
Faculty of Psychology
Gadjah Mada University
Disampaikan pada:
International Conference of Indigenous and Cultural Psychology,
Yogyakarta, July, 24-26, 2010
Self adaptation for children
with learning disorders
Deparrmen
r
"r
ro**iltifi"fi:T; fi.",,, or psychorogy
Gadjah Mada University
Abstract Students with learning difliculties
need special treatment to help them to
achieve the optimum result in their study. However, their special needs are often
neglected by pubtic schools, in these schools they are treated as normal childlpn.
The failure to fulfill the needs of these special students will cause learning difficulties and low achievement.
The research was ,conducted 8t som€ elementary schools which were classified
by the local department of education oflice as elementary schools with the lowest
rank, these schools ane located in Depok sub-distria ofSleman, Yogyakarta. The
sulrjects of this study wcrc 52 students with leaming disorder. The procedures for
(l) Searched information from the local office of detlw subject sampling
'rere:
pafiment of national educalion about thc existence and information of the lowest,
rank elementary school in Depok, Sleman. Yogyakarta. (2) Chose the schools that
would be used as the sub.jects of thc research. (3) Used the student's learning
disorder identifrcation instrument. (4) Administered the CPM intelligence test from
Raven.
The reeearch subjercts were comprised of 36 male students and 15 fernale students, lhe average age was I l years old. The IQ scorc (in percentile) was72.l43
for male with SD
15,,892
12.459 on the SD.
Alll of the research subjects suffered from learning disorder
while the fernale students' IQ score was 75.6E2 and
which include: (l) genreral learning disorder 76.920/o; (2) language comprehension
disorder 71.15%; (3) language expression disorder 21.15%; (4) reading disorder
75.0o/o; (5) writing disorder S0.0%; (6) ariihmetie disorder 38,46t/oi (7) orientation
disorder 3.85%; (8) motor disorder 17.3lo/o; (9) attention and concentration disorder 42.31%; (10) emottional and behavioral disorder 25.f/o and, (l l) communication disorder 9.62%.
The result of the sludy showed that the conhoversial nomination was thc most
prevalent nomination of all with 14 students or 26.9 % showing controversial
nornination, this was liollowed by 13 average students (25.00/"1,
rejected students (21.27o), I neglecled studatts (15.4%), and 6 popular students (l 1.5%). The
nomination comparisons among male students wer€: I I antroversial students, 8
rejected shfientq 8 avrrage stud€nts, 4 nqlected students, and 3 popular students.
Whife on the female side, there were 5 average students, 4 neglecled students, 3
rejected studerrfs,3 cotilroversial students, and 3 popalar students.
ll
Key words: self adaptation, learning disorders, neglected students, popular students. controversial students.
146
A. KUMARA
Elementary education is the stepping-stone to higher education, in elementary
school students are trained with the mastery of basic skills, which include both
general and academic skill, which will be crucial in the mastery of the more
advanced skills later on. Students at elementary level required more attention
bccause in this level students begin their conceptual and character building
phase. Thus, the successful achievement of students in their later study will
depend on their mastery of the basic skill.
Unfortunatr:ly, many students, especially elementary school students, fail to
their
do
assignment due to their inadequate basic skill. Their inadequate mastery
of basic skill is reflected from their imperfect mastery of some or all school
subjects, which in turn lead to insufficient learning achievement. These students
are prone to receive a class promotion or even drop out. These students are often
classified as children with special need. The rate of students who failed to get
promotion in elementary school was l3,lolo while the drop out reached 28oh
(Department of lNational Education/Depdiknas, 200 I ).
Students with learning difficulties need special treatment to help them to
achieve the optirmum result in their study. However, their special needs are often
neglected by public schools, in these schools they are treated as normal children.
The failure to lfulfill the needs of these special students will cause learning
difficulties and low achievement.
Learning a:hievement is determined both by the internal and external factors. The internal factor include physical and psychological factor, while the
external factor consist of adaptation ability, peer acceptance and teacher's
attitude. Chapman (1998) stated, "Most of students with leaming difftculties fail
in school activity, the failure is caused by inadequate cogrritive ability and other
non-intellectual factors including teacher, peer and school".
Ladd (l99CD conducted one ofthe significant studies ofschool adaptation
with leaming achievement. In this research, Ladd showed the significant and
positive contribution of successful adaptation in students leaming achievement
and performance. In her research, Utari (1988) as quoted by Sukarti (2003)
showed the signifisant correlation between school adaptation and leaming
aChievement. Sludents with successful adaptation tlsually perforrned better in
their study, studlents performed better when they ftel secur€ and happy. These
favorable condirlions gave them opportunity for self-actualization and encouraged them to shrdy harder to achievc a bEtter result. Shrdents are said to adapt
succcssfully in lhe school whe,n they are able to show considoration for others,
respect to othem and participate actively in helping each other in school activity
@uhs & Lad4 rl00l).
Successful school adaptation refers to the ideal condition where both the
students and the school environment feel satisfy with the students' attitude. The
acceptanc€ from school acceptance is imperative because self-satisfaction with
their behavior is insufficient for successful adaptation. Students who fail in
SELF-ADAPTION FOR CHILDREN WTTH LEARNING DISORDERS
147
will feel depressed because of their inability to fulfill the
pressure
to
havr: a relationship with their group, to interact with the
social
teacher as well as to participate in class activity. Failure in school adaptation
will have negative imparcts on students, Hurlock (1991) stated, "students will be
unhappy and despisp their own self, as the consequence, students begin to
develop selfish, introvert, unsocial or even anti social attitudes. Without proper
assistance, these attitudes will probably cause mental disturbances, failure to
achieve optimum learning achievement and difficulties in further development.
Ladd (1990) concluded that students with school adaptation difficulty also had
higher level of anxiety and dependency on others, in addition to that they were
also more volatile to failure and showing inferioriry in front of their peers, and
felt that their school assignments were to difficult.
In addition to schrcol adaptation, peer acceptance is very instrumental in
students learning achierrement. Students learn about adaptation and try to adjust
in society as well as other behavioral patterns from their peer. Peer acceptance is
irnportant because it is the reflection of group appreciation on individual.
Experiences with peer rrvill stimulate cognitive development, social skills as well
as social cognition. Peer relationship can function as the medium to learn about
social role, medium to increase moral maturity as well as to reduce egocentrism,
it can also provide sociarl support (Wentzel, 1998); peer relationship can ease the
transition process of dependency to family to the more complicated life
environment (Diehl, et al, 1998); finally peer acceptance also contribute to
stud€nts'perception, pe:rformance and adaptation in their school (Ladd, 1990).
Students with good pe€r acceptance showed better learning result, while
peer rejection increases the risk of academic failure. Some of the characteristic
of students with good pEer acceptance are: confident in being his/her own sell
enthusiastic in giving attention to othen, high self-confident and happiness but
school adaptation
not arrogant, communicate with better clarity, attractive and skillful in
maintaining conversation (Kennedy in Santrock, 2002). Hurlock (1991) added
friendliness, cooperatil'eness, law abiding, ability to adapt without causing
friction, and ability to raccept happily, whatever happens in his/trer life. Other
characteristics include ability to share, willingness to take turn in group play,
responsible, willing to prarticipate.and enjoy social relationship, has a high social
awarenes$ and understanding. Students with good peer acceptance are also
emotionally more mature, and have a better control in their behavior these
students are also more calm, and fi'ee from anxiety, anger orjealously.
There are five categories of peer acceptance; they are: popular, reiected,
neglected, controversial, and average (Wentzel, l99l\, Popular means' many
people are fiond of this student; he/she is disliked by only few people. Controversial on the other refer to a situation in which a student is being liked by some
people but he/she is als,o dislike by others. Average indicate that the acceptance
is only mediocre but urith no rejection. Neglected signiff a condition when
a
148
A. K{.^4ARA
student is being sidelined socially, this type of srudent is often disliked bv
hislher peem, and this condition leave them with only very limited friends.
while Rejected means that a student. is disliked by the vast majority, this
condition is rmarked with aggressive attitude, lack of self-control, anxiety as well
as lack of sor;ial skill, withdrawal, and personal problem.
Another determining factor in the outcome of the learning process is
teacher's attitude towards the students, this is essential since teacheihas a direct
contributiqn in the teaching and learning process. when teachers shows their
emphatic understanding on students' condition, strengths, weaknesses and
conducted th,e learning process based on individual differinces, shrdents will be
more confident because teacher's appreciation and understanding increase their
seltperception as well as pride. on the other hand, students wit ue frustrated
and lose their motivation in their study when teacher portray favoritism and lack
of understanding, this condition will lead to unsatisfactory leaming outcome.
The combination of school adaptation, p€er-acceptance, and teachei's attitude
together with inappropriate educational system will give negative impact on
students' learning achievernent, and making them as underachiJvers.
Leaming; outcome was defined as the average student's score from nine
subjects in elementary school, which includi Religton, ppKN (civics),
Indonesian, lwathematics, sociat studies, Natural scieice, art and handtcrift
skill, sports,.Iavanese, and the art of traditional dance or English. The scores
were obtainedl from the first semesler 2003-2004 Student's progiess report.
school adaptation was defined as student's ability in toping witir the variety of social sinration at school in an effective and responsible manner. Thus,
he/she, in addition to self-satisfaction, may achieve a [armonious relationship
with his4rer surroundings. In this study, the aspects of school adaptation
followed the concept from coie but with nrodification (as stated in Buhs &
Ladd,2001).'rhe aspects were: (l) students' obedience to school regulation, (2)
students' participation in school activity, (3) students, partici-pation and
cooperation in group work, (4) students'healthy and friendlyrelationship with
their peers as well as with theii teacher. The success rate oi school adaitation
was reflected from the score obtained from the school adaptation questionnaire.
High score was a reflection of good and successful school adaptatibn while low
score was an indication of low or unsuccessful school adaptation.
Peer acceptance was defined as 8 process in which a student as a member of
one society oir group was chosen by the group as friend and was allowed to
participate in rthe group activity. For a student peer acceptance was an indicator
of his/her successful role in the group, and it also showed the shrdent was
approved by fiillow group members to work or to play together. peer acceptance
was measurell using the sociometrical nomination consisting positivl and
negative nomi:nation.
SELF.ADAPTION FOR CHILDREN WITH LEARNING
DISORDERS
I4g
Teacher's attitude was.categorized into favorable and unfavorable
attitudes,
in these twor attitudes were the cognition, affection and conation
included
of students' . with learning disoider. There were four aspects
teacher's attitudes (l) the
a*aren"sJ of students' individual biological,
intellectual, and psychologicar differences; (2) The abiriry ro recognize
individual speciar ability in.each
lg99nt; (3) Til wilingness io encourage art
students without showing like or dislike
attiiuae; (4) Th; ability to understand
students' unique conditiorr in. order to give an appropriate response to
herp
students to increase theiir learning achievement. An undirstandingand
favorable
teacher usually scores .a high point and was said to positive aid favorable
to
students with learning disorder.
Finally, students with learning disorder were defined as students who
faced
- -_
difficulty
in accomplishing their academic duty. students with learning disorder
were recognized from the-below average score, and the inconsisten"y bet*e"n
IQ score and learning achievement. The disorder was visible frorn their lack
of
mastery on the basic academic skills (reading, writing, and arithmetic)
as well as
basic
(ranguage comprehension and Jipression, motor disorder,
_goneral skill
-behavioral
components
attention and concentration disorder, emotional and
disorder, and
of these disorder were not cause by any
also comnrunication disorder); art
physical or mental handicap.
The research was conducted at some elementary schools which were classiby the local departnnent of education office as Llementary schools with the
led
lowest
rank, these schLools are located in Depok sub-district of sleman,
Yogyakarta. The,subjects of this study were 52 students with learning
disorder.
The procedures for the subject sarnpling were: (l) searched information
from
the local offrce of deparrtment of nationat educafion about the existence
and
information of the lowest-rank elementary school in Depok, Sleman, yogyakarta. (2) chose ttre sehools that woutd be used as the subiects of the
research.
(3) used the student's leaming disorder identification instrument. (4) Adminis-
tered the CPM intelligen:e test from Raven.
The research subjects were comprised
of 36 male students and 16 female
years old. The Ie score (in percentile) was
male with sD t5.892 while the female shrdents' t