Student Athletes with Learning Disabilities: A Model for Effective Supports

The evolution of the intercollegiate student-athlete has made great-changes and progress towards becoming a whole student and complete athlete, not one or the other. The redefinition of intercollegiate athletics has taken on the primary focus of creating stronger academic and personal support services for student-athletes. Essentially, it is believed that the problems in athletics are not insurmountable, but in the future we must create new programs of support and assistance for student athletes as well as take full advantage of those already in place. Holistic support programs that address psychosocial issues in academics and athletics can provide necessary assistance to student-athletes, through intervention and strategies that view the athlete as an individual with changing needs and skills, rather than exclusively as an athletic participant. These concepts are even more important for the student-athlete with a learning disability. However, the progress that has been made to create more holistic programs of support for student-athletes often times does not or rather cannot accommodate the needs of those students with learning disabilities. The purpose of this article is to evaluate and revise the model for Support Services for Athletes and provide recommendations on how colleges and universities can design and develop academic and personal support programs for student-athletes with disabilities. ********** The educational and life skill development needs of the intercollegiate student-athlete are often neglected in higher education settings. College and university personnel sometimes erroneously assume that because an individual is an intercollegiate student-athlete, most needs are met; however, the opposite may typically be the case (Kirk & Kirk, 1993). Student-athletes are students first, and must be viewed by all college and university personnel as complex individuals with needs and wants specific to that of student-athletes. There are countless myths and realities associated with the daily lives of intercollegiate student-athletes with which most persons may be unaware. For example, many individuals perceive that student-athletes have all their needs met in their academic and personal environments, such as having preferential treatment in class scheduling, access to funding streams that is unavailable to typical students, and a broad base of support from athletic supporters in the community. Perhaps one of the more exaggerated perspectives held by some individuals was noted by Sanoff (1990), who compared college athletics to an expensive circus with performers (a) having an insatiable appetite for winning, and (b) receiving inadequate moral guidance and education. Current thinking regarding student-athletes on college and university campuses has changed markedly over time. Of particular importance is the shift of higher education personnel toward perceiving that intercollegiate athletics must assist this population to become whole students and complete athletes--not one or the other. As noted by Etzel, Ferrante, and Pinkney (1996), college student-athletes are a unique population of young adults who lead stressful lives influenced by the unique demands of their lifestyles and the developmental challenges of college age people. Such unique demands require special services to assist them to respond appropriately and become well-adjusted, successful adults (Etzel et al., 1996). Challenges and Barriers Unique to Student-Athletes Student-athletes face a range of unique challenges/barriers that result in qualitatively different educational experiences than those experienced by other students (Etzel et al., 1996). These include the following: (a) adjustment to competing demands, (b) response to negative stereotypes, (c) needs for unique support services, and (d) coping with learning disabilities. Each of these challenges/barriers is discussed in the following sections. …