Classroom Behavioral Styles of Learning Disabled Boys

Abstract

Observational studies have uniformly failed to find the cluster of symptoms associated with LD. Instead, one or another seems to typify most of the LD children in any context — in this case classroom distractibility. As the authors note, other behavior often associated with LD was found among some of the children — though not enough to distinguish them from normal learners. Such documentation of the heterogeneity of the LD group logically questions the relevance of comparing LD and normal children, and suggests the need for subtypes of LD to be identified, at least for research purposes. — G.M.S.

The classroom behavior of 15 learning disabled boys was compared to that of 15 matched normal boys in order to determine differences in behavioral style and to examine the learning disabled children's behavior in different classroom environments. Results indicated that of 12 discrete kinds of classroom behavior only one, distractibility, differentiated the two groups. There was very limited support for the stereotyped cluster of negative behavior often associated with learning disabilities. The study also supports the position that characteristics of the classroom environment may exert much influence in fostering or minimizing specific behavior related to academic achievement and competence.

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