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Session 1430

Comparative Analysis of Virginia Tech Engineering Students with Learning Disabilities

Mary L. Cummings Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University/University of Virginia

Abstract

From 1988 to 1998, the numbers of learning disabled students entering college almost tripled, significantly impacting the student population in colleges of engineering. This study compared the performance of Virginia Tech (VT) College of Engineering learning disabled students with two groups: VT students from all other colleges with learning disabilities and VT engineering students without learning disabilities. Results demonstrated that, in general, the GPAs of VT engineering males with learning disabilities are lower than both comparison groups. However, the GPAs of VT engineering females with learning disabilities were higher than both peer groups. In addition, this study addressed what can be done to facilitate the success of students with learning disabilities who desire to become engineers. Various factors affect these students’ success, but studies show that external support services, internal coping skills, such as self - advocacy, and faculty support are all critical for the success of students with learning disabilities. Colleges of engineering should ensure their students with learning disabilities are aware of the support services available. In addition, engineering faculty need to be made more aware of the problems faced by students with learning disabilities and the importance of accommodating these students.

I. Introduction

The demand for engineers in the U.S. workforce consistently outpaces the number of engineering graduates across the nation. There has been concerted effort both in industry and academia to attract more students to the fields of engineering. Some of the students who desire to become engineers come to college with diagnosed learning disabilities, and as the search for engineering students expands, the number of students with learning disabilities will increase in engineering programs. Even though the numbers of engineering students with learning disabilities are small, they are increasing. This rise is no doubt due in part to the increased efforts of primary and secondary educational systems to identify learning disabled students, but current research has not yet established the exact nature of the increase in learning disabled populations. Despite the ambiguity as to why the learning disabled population is increasing, colleges of engineering across the nation will have to address the fact that learning disabled (LD) students are a valuable resource and have talents highly desired by potential employers.

In 1998, a U.S. Department of Education statistical report on students with disabilities stated that approximately 4% of all freshman college applicants had a diagnosed learning disability, and 6% of these LD students hoped to obtain degrees in engineering (as compared to 8% for non-LD

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Cummings, M. (2002, June), Comparative Analysis Of Virginia Tech Engineering Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--11305