A New Group and Its Mission:
Learning Disabilities and the Psychology of the Self
Margaret Amerongen
The International Forum on Learning Disabilities (IFoLD) is a
recently formed group of clinicians interested in learning disabilities
(LD) who attend the international self psychology conference. The
group, started by Joseph Palombo of Chicago, is enriched by a diverse
membership. It includes Amy Eldridge, also from Chicago, Susanna
Federici-Nebbiosi and Marco Bernabei from Italy, Eva Rass from Germany,
and Faye Mishna and Margaret Amerongen from Canada. The group has
presented several pre-conference workshops and original papers at
International Conferences during the past several years. The aim of this
group is to inform psychoanalytic therapists about the potentially
complex and far-reaching impact of learning disabilities on the lives of
their patients (including child and adult patients who have LD and those
whose family members have LD). The group is committed to articulating
the ways in which self psychology theory can be helpful in understanding
and addressing the impact of LD. Presentations and networking at
conferences have yielded a gradually growing list of colleagues who
share the group's interest.
IfoLD recently identified its mission in the following statement:
The International Forum on Learning Disabilities (IFoLD)
is an organization devoted to furthering an understanding of the impact
of learning disabilities on the development of children, adolescents and
adults. It recognizes that this impact may be complex and multifaceted.
Learning disabilities may profoundly affect an individual's sense of
self, relationships with others, and social, academic, professional and
everyday functioning.
IFoLD is dedicated to the dissemination of knowledge about the
difficulties faced by individuals with learning disabilities and their
families, and about the treatment interventions used to alleviate these
difficulties. These interventions are guided by an effort to understand
the subjective experience of the individuals involved, drawing on
information about the complex interplay of cognitive, emotional,
behavioural, familial, and environmental factors.
At the most recent conference in San Diego, IFoLD members conducted a
pre-conference workshop. It featured some of the problems faced by
children with LD and their families as well as self
psychologically-informed therapeutic interventions.
It is vital for therapists to recognize that a sizeable number of
people have LD. According to Statistics Canada 100,400 children
aged 5-14 have LD, second only to asthma as the leading chronic
condition limiting children's activity. Although a significant number
of individuals with LD function well, approximately 40% of students with
LD develop psychosocial problems. Throughout the lifespan, individuals
with LD are prone to experience empathic failures and unmet selfobject
needs. Some of the stresses confronting children with LD and their
families are outlined here.
The LD may mean that a child's selfobject needs for experiencing a
sense of competence, belonging, admiration, and support are frequently
not met both inside and outside of the family. Rather, experiences of
frustration, stigma, isolation, and shame may be all too common.
Families in which a child has an LD may engage in escalating vicious
cycles of interaction. Children's problems may overly tax the parents'
empathic capacities, which may interfere with the child's development
and attachment to the parents. The child then may not meet the parents'
needs for affirmation of their effectiveness and for attachment. The
parents may consequently be less able to support the children, who then
function even more poorly. Parents'own self deficits may further
complicate the picture.
Behaviour management and helping the child master developmental tasks
and social competence are among other challenges that may confront
families in which a child has an LD. While many such children develop
well, they are more at risk of having behaviour problems than their
peers without LD. Specific cognitive impairments (e.g., acquisition of
language, labeling feelings, perceiving the nonverbal communication and
intentions of others, problem-solving and other executive functions) may
hinder the development of age-appropriate self-regulation and social
judgment. Problems with impulsive behaviour, emotional outbursts, and
non-compliance are also reported in the literature. Lacking social
competence and being stigmatized because of their academic weaknesses,
children with LD often have difficulty making friends and are more prone
to be bullied than their peers without LD. These experiences thus
compromise the children's opportunities to obtain selfobject experiences
outside the family.
Families may have difficulty determining behavioural expectations and
limit-setting suitable to the specific needs of the child with LD. The
family must find the delicate balance between, on the one hand,
providing the greater support and guidance dictated by the LD, and on
the other hand, promoting age-appropriate independence and initiative.
Children may need their parents to recognize that they may require more
help with particular tasks. They may need more preparation, more
coaching, and to have less demanded of them than other children.
However, parenting styles that are overly controlling or protective can
evoke conflict with the child or can erode the child's competence. The
added complication of the LD may intensify the parent-teen clashes that
are common in adolescence.
The greater stress suffered by parents of the child or teen with LD
may exacerbate already existing conflicts between parents. Parents who
might otherwise have coped adequately can be pushed over the edge by the
LD-related problems. Feeling uncertain and inadequate, parents may
blame each other and feel insufficiently supported by each other.
Effective therapeutic work dictates that therapists acquire knowledge
about LD and the multifaceted impact that it can have on the lives of
children and parents. Helping family members to better meet each
other's selfobject needs means that the therapist's empathic attunement
must include how the LD may be affecting experience.
To illustrate: the child needs the therapist to understand that a
learning disability may impair his or her verbal communication or
contribute to misunderstanding another's intentions. Misunderstanding
and feeling misunderstood, the child may act in ways that others find
offensive. Further, many behaviour problems in children with LD are due
to anxiety and shame surrounding any activity in their area of weakness.
Defiance and irritability may mask uncertainty, even panic. Unruly
behaviour may be the logical outcome to the conviction, "It is better to
be bad than stupid."
The parents analogously require empathy from the therapist that is
attuned to their particular struggles. The therapist must appreciate
that parents may feel exhausted by the child's special needs and
apprehensive about the child's future. Parents may feel that they and
their children are misunderstood and criticized by those who are
uninformed about LD. Significantly, parents may feel blamed for their
child's problems.
IFoLD members will continue to exchange ideas with colleagues about
these important matters. In future presentations, the group plans to
address issues related to the impact of LD on adults and to discuss
considerations for psychotherapy with adults who have an LD or suspected
LD.
References
Cosden, M. (2001). Risk and resilience for substance abuse among
adolescents and adults with LD. Journal of Learning Disabilities,
34(4), 352-358.
Lewandowski, L.J., & Barlow, J.R. (2000). Social cognition and verbal
learning disabilities. Journal of Psychotherapy in Independent
Practice, Special Issue: Social Competence and Developmental Disorders,
4, 35-47.
Statistics Canada (2002, December 3). A profile of disability in
Canada 2001. Retrieved March 26, 2003 from
http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/89-577-XIE/index.htm.
Top of this Page Newsletter Front Page
| 
