Social Alienation and the Learning Disabled School Dropout

The purpose of this study was to determine, through the use of structured survey techniques, differences in expressed attitudes of social alienation between LD school completers and LD school dropouts. The research question addressed was: Do LD school dropouts report different feelings and attitudes regarding social alienation from classmates and from teachers than do LD nondropouts? A total of 37 LD male subjects (20 LD nondropouts, 17 LD dropouts) from a large metropolitan school district participated in this study. Two structured survey measures of social alienation were constructed and administered to all subjects. Results indicated that learning disabled students who drop out of school feel more socially alienated towards classmates and teachers than do learning disabled school completers. Discussion focuses on possible explanations for social alienation among many LD students, and inclusion of social alienation factors in a risk model for LD school dropouts.