Understanding Patterns of Social-Emotional Strengths Across Students With and Without Disabilities: Different, Not Worse

• In Event: A Novel Methodological Approach to Investigate Questions in Special Education

Abstract

Understanding the diversity of experiences in students who have been identified as having a disability (SPED) could help teachers and administrators better understand the experiences of their student body and help them tailor interventions that best fit the needs of the students to increase student academic and social outcomes. A dual-factor perspective to student mental health posits that both students thrive when there is a presence of social-emotional strengths, as well as the absence of distress (Suldo & Shaffer, 2008). The focus on both the distress and strengths of students' mental health provides a unique perspective on studying the overall well being of students which traditionally would focus on a deficit model. Understanding the experiences of all students , those who have been identified with a disability and is important.

Authors

• Delwin Carter, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Adam Garber, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Karen L. Nylund-Gibson, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Erin Dowdy, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Michael James Furlong, University of California - Santa Barbara