Classroom Behavior of Learning Disabled Children

Abstract

Teacher ratings and observational data were gathered on 22 pairs of LD and non-LD children in the second and fourth grades in an effort to compare their task-oriented, social, and affective behavior patterns in regular class settings. Results indicated that task orientation was the primary dimension of adaptive behavior discriminating the groups for both measures. While LD and non-LD students were observed performing similar classroom activities during the same periods of the day, data on contextual settings suggested that LD students were more often placed in small groups than in individual or large-group settings. The consistency of findings across previous observational studies was noted as well as the importance of considering ecological factors of the classroom in future research and program planning.