Understanding Mental Health Diagnoses and Learning Disorders

The purpose of this research is to build on previous research that showed a significant
relationship between students with socially devalued identities, poor mental health, and lower
academic achievement and suggested tailored and targeted treatments as a possible protective
factor. To develop programs to assist students in achieving higher scores, one must first
determine the impact of comorbid mental health diagnosis and specific learning disorder on
academic achievement. A quantitative causal-comparative study was used to determine if there is
an impact of mental health diagnoses in combination with specific learning disorders for students
with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or 504 plans on standardized test scores. The study
participants were drawn from a convenience sample of 3rd, 8th, and 10th-grade students located
in a rural area of northeast Florida during the 2018-2019 school year diagnosed with a specific
learning disorder. Academic achievement was measured by student score on the Florida Standard
Assessment (FSA). The sample size was 195 to 198 students from each grade level, divided into
two groups depending on the presence or absence of a comorbid mental health diagnosis. The
data was analyzed using three independent sample t tests. The results of the study indicated no
significant difference between the two subgroups on academic achievement as measured by the
FSA scores. The findings of this study showed a need for future studies to include replication of
the study in additional populations and areas using a different scale of measurement and to
compare students with a mental health disorder to mainstream students with no mental health
disorder or specific learning disorder.