ally at the college level (Jarrow, 1987 as cited by Barga, 1996). Clearly, there has been a great increase of students who are showing learning disabilities in the higher educational arenas. Students with learning disabilities have difficulty in reading, writing, and spelling and with mathematical concepts. Often time’s students are easily distracted, unfocused, and have a hard time developing good time management skills. In addition, many students who struggle with learning disabilities have great difficulty in understanding and following directions and struggle with different aspects of their social situations that they encounter. One of the most significant facts about these students is their alarming rate of high school dropout. According to Lichtenstein, 40 percent of students with learning disabilities drop out of high school, as opposed to the 25 percent without learning disabilities (Lichtenstein, 1992). The purpose of this study was to find out the factors that has enhanced the success of students with learning disabilities in school settings and to explore how these students managed their disabilities from kindergarten through college. This study was designed due to the alarming number of students with learning disabilities who dropped out of school. There were two objectives for this study. The first objective was to find out how students with learning disabilities managed their disabilities while in school; and the second objective was to find the methods of success. This study was conducted at an average sized, 4-year state university with an enrollment of 9,000 students. The students for the study were identified with the help of the director of learning disabilities clinic. The students were first contacted through a letter that was written and generated by the director of the clinic and the researcher. From the letter, four traditional and five nontraditional students with learning disabilities were selected for th...
