| he purpose of this dissertation was to develop and perform the preliminary standardization of an instrument designed to assess parents' expectations and perceptions of their children with learning disabilities, in the area of academic achievement. After a comprehensive literature review, it was hypothesized that the instrument would include the following general areas: (a) parent-child interactions, (b) parent-school interactions, (c) reading, (d) spelling, (e) arithmetic, (f) language arts, (g) handwriting, (h) psychomotor development, (i) learning/study skills, (j) general intellectual ability, (k) parents' expectations, (l) LD child-sibling interactions, and (m) social skills. These hypothesized dimensions formed an instrument with 51 items, which was administered to a sample of 48 parents from the Learning Disabilities Association of California (LDA-CA). This first instrument was item analyzed and a revised instrument consisting of 80 items was developed and administered to a sample of 132 parents from the LDA-CA. Item analysis and correlational analysis identified all hypothesized dimensions, except for social skills. Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient was used to estimate the internal consistency of the seven scales of the instrument. The results revealed a 62 item instrument comprising six reliable scales: (a) Scale 1, Academic Performance Scale, Coefficient Alpha =.72; (b) Scale 2, Non-Academic Performance Scale, Coefficient Alpha =.73; (c) Scale 3, Perception of Study Skills Scale, Coefficient Alpha =.86; (d) Scale 4, Parent-Child Interaction Scale, Coefficient Alpha =.77; (e) Scale 5, Expectations of Academic Performance Scale, Coefficient Alpha =.68; and (f) Scale 7, Parent-School Interaction Scale, Coefficient Alpha =.62. The demographic variables of the study were analyzed with ANOVA's and t-tests. The following variables demonstrated significant effects on the scale scores at the p... |
