Correlates of Learning Disabled Students' Peer-Interaction Patterns Author(s): Margaret Bruck and Martine Hébert Source: Learning Disability Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 4, LD Students' Social Skills (Autumn, 1982), pp. 353-362 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1510917 Accessed: 19-12-2018 20:34 UTC REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1510917?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms
Sage Publications, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Learning Disability Quarterly
This content downloaded from 128.220.196.246 on Wed, 19 Dec 2018 20:34:07 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
CORRELATES OF
LEARNING DISABLED STUDENTS'
PEER-INTERACTION PATTERNS
tMargaret Bruck and Martine H
Abstract. Results of this study showed LD children's cognitive taking skills to be poorer than those of age-matched controls. mance on these tasks was not related to measures of peer-dom stead, these were found most consistently to relate to hyperact
Recently, considerable focus has been directed at the social behaviors of learning disabled (LD) children. Empirical data suggest that
compared to nondisabled controls, these
Of interest in the present study is the hypothesis that LD children's social difficulties may reflect role-taking deficits. Role-taking
represents a general cognitive capacity to
children are perceived as less socially acceptable by teachers (Keogh, Tchir, & Windeguth-Behn, 1974), parents (Owen, Adams, Forrest, Stolz, & Fisher, 1971), and peers (Bryan, 1974, 1976). Despite subsequent attempts at examining the
understand and to take into account the
factors which might account for the LD children's
role-taking skills is thought to be a prerequisite
poor social skills, no clear explanations for these
the development of social competence (Shant 1975). Three studies have examined LD
documented phenomena have been advanced to date. In addition, because results of most studies are based on group comparisons with
thoughts (cognitive role-taking) and feelings (af
fective role-taking) of another individual a
distinct from one's own (cf. Enright & Lapsley,
1980, for a recent review). The development
children's role-taking skills to test the hypothesis that their poor social skills are a function of an
underlying social cognitive deficit. Thus, Dick-
few attempts at analyzing individual differences of social skills within the LD group, little is known about the types of LD children most at risk for
stein and Warren (1980) found that LD boys and
social problems.
deficits when compared to normal control
Most of the studies on the factors associated
girls, ages 5 to 11 years, showed role-taking
children, ages 5 to 9 years. In a study by Acker-
with LD children's social problems are based on man, Elardo, and Dykman (1979), however,
the hypothesis that the social difficulties
role-taking measures did not discriminate a
demonstrated by this population are a part of or group of LD nonhyperactive boys from normal a manifestation of the cognitive deficits which are controls although role-taking measures did
responsible for the children's academically discriminate the LD and control groups from a related difficulties. For example, LD children's group of hyperactive boys with no learning prointerpretations of facial expressions and of nonverbal cues have been examined (Bryan,
1977; Wiig & Harris, 1974) on the assumption MARGARET BRUCK, Ph.D., is Research that LD children have spatial or visual recogni- Director, McGill-Montreal Children's Hospital tion problems which make them insensitive to Learning Center, McGill University. paralinguistic cues normally critical for successful MARTINE HEBERT is a doctoral student, Consocial interactions and relationships.
cordia University.
Volume 5, Fall 1982 353
This content downloaded from 128.220.196.246 on Wed, 19 Dec 2018 20:34:07 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
blems. Finally, Wong and Wong (1980) found
ple of hyperactive children, 43% could be objec-
differences between normal and LD children's
tively classified as LD; similarly, Bruck (unpublished data) found that in a clinic sample of LD children, 28% could be objectively classified as hyperactive. Dickstein and Warren did not
role-taking skills; however, this effect was due to
the LD girls demonstrating the poorest roletaking skills.
Several methodological factors might account for the discrepant results of the above studies.
report the behavioral characteristics of their LD
The first involves differences in the role-taking
school and because the major reason for referral
measures employed in each study. Ackerman et al. and Wong and Wong used a cognitive role-
to special programs tends to be behavioral
taking task, while Dickstein and Warren employed cognitive, affective, and visual
ficulties (Phipps, 1982). However, one would suspect that their sample included a significant
perspective-taking tasks. It has been argued, however, that visual perspective-taking should not be included as a social role-taking measure
proportion of LD hyperactive children. Further,
because social cognitive abilities are not required in such tasks to understand the qualities of other
people (Enright & Lapsley, 1980, p. 640). Also, since some LD children have visual or spatial deficits, Dickstein and Warren's data may reflect their subjects' spatial deficits rather than a more general social cognitive deficit in the ability to infer the feelings and thoughts of others as distinct
sample because it was selected from a special
management problems rather than academic dif-
since Ackerman et al.'s data suggest that poor role-taking skills typified only the hyperactive
non-LD group, one might argue that Dickstein and Warren's results reflect role-taking deficits of
hyperactive children rather than those of children with learning disabilities per se. Aside from these methodological problems, all
three studies share a conceptual difficulty that makes interpretations of the data problematic. This concerns the failure to relate role-taking skills to the social abilities of the children tested.
from one's own.
A second factor which may account for the discrepant results concerns sex differences. Recent data indicate that LD girls may be more like-
ly than boys to exhibit social difficulties (Bruck,
Thus, in the Ackerman et al. study, a factor analysis revealed no relationship between roletaking measures and social desirability. Neither Wong and Wong nor Dickstein and Warren ex-
1982; Bryan, 1974; Scranton & Rykman,
amined the social skills of their sample. Rather,
1979). Thus, Ackerman et al. may have failed to
based on findings reported in the literature, these
detect role-taking deficits in their study of LD
authors assumed that their LD samples demon-
boys because of the exclusion of the more at-risk group of girls included in the Dickstein and War-
strated social difficulties and hence concluded
ren study. Wong and Wong supported this hypothesis by reporting no differences between
LD and normal boys' role-taking skills, while pointing out that LD females performed more
that the role-taking deficits found for their samples accounted for the postulated social disabilities. However, without some criterion
poorly than normal females on the experimental
measure of social skills it is impossible to determine the extent to which role-taking deficits account for or are related to LD children's social
tasks.
difficulties.
The last factor concerns possible differences among the three samples of LD children on the
The present study was conducted to examine some of the issues discussed above. First, it was designed to examine whether LD children
hyperactivity dimension. While recent empirical data and theoretical arguments indicate that the
display role-taking deficits when role-taking tasks
LD and hyperactive syndromes are distinct
involve cognitive and affective, but not percep-
(Douglas & Peters, 1980), and that it is possible to obtain pure groups of LD and hyperactive
children, there appears to be a subset of LD
tual role-taking items. Second, by testing a group of LD boys and girls, as well as LD children with and without hyperactive symp-
children who demonstrate hyperactive symp-
toms, the study examined the relationship in an
toms (i.e., poor impulse control, inability to sus-
LD sample between role-taking deficits and
tain attention, poorly modulated arousal levels,
hyperactivity and sex. Third, the investigation was designed to examine individual differences in role-taking skills and to determine their
and motoric restlessness). For example, Lambert and Sandoval (1980) noted that in a school sam-
354 Learning Disability Quarterly
This content downloaded from 128.220.196.246 on Wed, 19 Dec 2018 20:34:07 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
relative importance in accounting for LD children's social difficulties. That is, in addition to
role-taking measures, the subjects' social skills were measured to determine whether role-taking
accounted for the variability in criterion measures of social interaction. This analysis also
addressed an associated issue of the pervasiveness of social difficulties in the LD population. A reading of the literature strongly indicates that social difficulties constitute an important symp-
Because of time constraints, the control children were not administered a WISC-R, but
were given the PPVT Form L-a measure of verbal intelligence. All students scored in the average range or above (X = 110.75). The Blishen rating scale (Blishen & McRoberts, 1976) was used to assess each group's socioeconomic status. Results showed similar scores for the two groups, t(36) = .47. Measures of Role-Taking Skills Measures were adapted from those used by
tom of the LD syndrome. But because learning disabilities comprise such a heterogeneous col-
Dickstein and Warren. These instruments were
lection of individuals, it is questionable whether
selected because the subjects could respond to
all LD children demonstrate poor social skills. Therefore, the final goal of the present study was to identify some factors in addition to role-taking skills which might predict the social competen-
cies of LD children. These factors included: sex, age, hyperactive symptoms, and IQ. METHOD
all items nonverbally. In addition, the tasks contained control items to check comprehension of the task.
Two types of role-taking tasks were involved: cognitive and affective. Each task consisted of 10
questions: five control questions required the child to respond from his/her own perspective and were included to measure the child's
understanding of the task; five role-taking qu
Subjects Forty children participated in the study. Twen-
ty of the subjects comprised the LD group; the
remaining 20 made up the normal control group. Within each group half the subjects were between the ages of 7 and 8 years old, the other
half between 9 and 10 years old. There were seven girls and 13 boys in each group. The LD children were selected from clients at
a clinic which specializes in the assessment and treatment of learning disabilities. All the LD children had at least average intelligence on one
tions required the child to consider anoth
point of view which differed from his/her o
Within each task, the control items and ro taking items were randomly ordered. Half subjects received the cognitive items first,
other half were given the affective items first
Cognitive tasks. The cognitive items wer
designed to measure the subject's ability
predict the thoughts of another person. For e
item, the child was read a short story acco panied by three nonverbal props which w
of the WISC-R scales (X = 101.6), were below grade level in basic school skills, and had no
placed in front of him/her at the beginning o
identifiable neurological, sensory, or physical im-
thoughts and those of the person in the story not differ, as opposed to the role-taking items which there was a difference between the sub
pairments. Furthermore, their poor learning could not be attributed to disadvantaged home environments or emotional problems. The clinical diagnostic data on the children suggested
that their poor learning was associated with specific underlying information-processing deficits (e.g., poor visual memory, auditory discrimination).
The controls attended a public elementary school in a suburb of Montreal. The children
were initially screened by their classroom teachers to rule out learning problems. Letters
each item. For the control items, the child
ject's knowledge and that of the person in story. The following is an example of a ro taking item [the changes that would be made make it a control item are shown in the
brackets]. "Sally told Daddy she was going to the store to buy a watch. She went to the store. She
saw a watch, a bracelet, and a necklace. (Thes items are placed in front of the child, who ha previously named them.) Sally decided to buy necklace, [Control item: Sally decided to buy
were sent to parents to request written permission for participation in the study. The controls
watch.] and she carried it home in the bag. Wha
were matched with the LD subjects on the basis of sex and age.
one of the items.)
does Daddy think she bought?" (Child points t Affective tasks. The affective items were
Volume 5, Fall 1982 355
This content downloaded from 128.220.196.246 on Wed, 19 Dec 2018 20:34:07 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
designed to measure the subject's ability to
score was derived. High scores represent
predict another person's feelings which differed
relatively poor peer-interaction patterns. A th
from his/her own. For each control and roletaking item, the child was read a short story and
shown a piece of paper containing a happy face and a sad face. The child was told to point to the happy face if he/she liked the thing or activity
measure of peer interaction was obtained b adding the ratings of the five Conners Teac
Rating Scale items which did not load on any o the major factors of the scale (see Goyette et a
1978)--called "Teacher Other". Inspection
described in the story, and to point to the sad
these items indicated that they are specifica
face if he/she did not like it. The child was also
concerned with interpersonal-peer interaction
told that questions would be asked about how
Separate hyperactivity index scores obtain from the Parent Conners (Parent Index) an Teacher Conners (Teacher Index) checklists
other people in the story felt. In response to such
questions he/she would have to point to the pictures to indicate whether the characters liked or
disliked something. The first part of each item asked the child how
he/she felt about a certain activity or object (e.g., "Do you like to take a bath?"). The second part of the item was altered according to the response given in part I. For the control items,
served as measures of hyperactivity. It should be noted that while the behavioral measures served
as criterion measures of peer interaction, they were not direct measures of social status or skills.
Empirical investigations of LD children's social competence were initially motivated by percep-
were identical. Thus, if the child stated that
tions and comments of parents and teachers who, in turn, set standards for acceptable and deviant behaviors (see Ross, 1980, for a discus-
he/she liked taking baths (in the above
sion of these issues). Thus, given the
example), the second part of the item was word-
psychometric properties of our instruments, we believe that they reflect, although not perfectly,
the feelings of the child and of the story character
ed, "Sally likes taking baths. Sally's Mom asks her to take a bath. Point to the picture that shows
how Sally feels." For the role-taking items, the
some aspects of the children's peer interactions and hyperactive symptomatology.
feelings of the story character differed from those of the child. Thus, if the child said he/she liked
Procedure
taking baths, the second part of the item was worded, "Sally does not like to take a bath. Sal-
subjects at the clinic, the controls in their school After the testing, the parents and teachers were
ly's Mom tells her to take a bath. Point to the face
asked to complete the questionnaires. In the L group, all the parent questionnaires and all bu
that shows how Sally feels." Behavioral Measures
All subjects were individually tested-the LD
one of the teacher questionnaires were returned
Each subject's parent and classroom teacher In the control group, all the teacher question completed a peer-interaction checklist andnaires a and all but one of the parent questionrevised Conners Rating Scale (Goyette, Connaires were returned. ners, & Ulrich, 1978). (The teachers involved had had contact with the child for at least seven
months at the time of filling out the checklist.)
The peer-interaction checklist was based on Paulauskas and Campbell's (1979) measure of
RESULTS
The data were first analyzed to determ
whether LD children had poorer role-taking sk
teachers' impressions of hyperactive and normal
than the controls and to determine the associa-
boys' peer interactions. For the purpose of the present study, some questions were reworded
and sex.
and items were deleted or added to arrive at a second checklist that would be suitable for
tion between role-taking skills and hyperactivity
Two 2 X 2 ANOVA's with repeated measures were run on the role-taking task items. The in-
dependent variables were group (LD vs. Conparents. Each checklist consisted of 36 items. trol), age (7 years vs. 9 years), and the repeatedItems, which were descriptions of an interpersonal behavior with peers, required the rater tomeasure task (affective vs. cognitive). In the first ANOVA the responses to the control questions indicate on a 4-point scale, the frequency of the were examined to determine any differences in noted behavior (e.g., quarrelsome with peers;
the subjects' understanding of the task replays mostly with younger children). A total quirements. No significant main effects or in-
Parent-Peer score and a total Teacher-Peer
356 Learning Disability Quarterly
This content downloaded from 128.220.196.246 on Wed, 19 Dec 2018 20:34:07 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
TABLE 1
Mean Number of Correctly Answered Items on Role-Taking Tasks Learning Disabled Controls Tasks 7 years 9 years 7 years 9 years Control Items Affective
4.2
4.8
4.8
4.7
Cognitive
4.7
4.8
4.8
4.8
Total
Score
8.9
9.6
Role-Taking Affective
Cognitive Total
4.1
4.0
Score
9.6
9.5
Items 4.5
4.7
4.9
4.1
4.3
4.8
8.1
8.6
9.0
9.7
teractions were found. To determine if LD children's role-taking skills I (see Table 1) indicates that all subjects had varied as a function of sex and/or hyperactive understood the task requirements. The second symptoms, simple correlation coefficients were ANOVA run on the subjects' responses to the run between role-taking tasks with sex, teacher role-taking items revealed a main group effect, F index, and parent index. None of the correla(1,36) = 6.27, p < .01. That is, the LD group tions was significant, and all were lower than +.19. performed more poorly than the controls. No other main effects or interactions were noted The lack of significant correlations betw (see Table 1 for means). These data are consis- hyperactivity ratings and role-taking task tent with and replicate Dickstein and Warren's not attributable to the limited variability in findings that LD children demonstrate poorer hyperactive ratings. Even though the LD role-taking skills than controls. children had higher parent index scores, t
TABLE 2
Summary of Parent and Teacher Hyperkinesis Index Scores Group Parent Rating Teacher Rating LD
M
10.50
SD
11.84
5.25
4.7
Control
M SD
5.08 3.60
7.84 6.42
Volume 5. Fall 1982 357
This content downloaded from 128.220.196.246 on Wed, 19 Dec 2018 20:34:07 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
TABLE 3
Peer-Interaction Measures of LD and Control Students Measure
LD
Control
Teacher Peer-Interaction
Checklist
M
SD
22.79
14.22
15.70
13.15
Parent Peer-Interaction
Checklist
M
SD
20.45
9.52
18.53 6.65
Teacher-Other
Items
M
SD
3.47
2.75
3.06
(38) = 3.77, p < .001, and teacher index scores, t (38) = 3.21, p < .004, than the controls, inspection of the means and standard
3.04
deviations (see Table 2) indicates great variability
in the hyperactive ratings within both groups. Five LD children had scores of > 15 on the
TABLE 4
Correlations Between Role-Taking and Peer-Interaction Measures Affective Cognitive Total Items
Items
Score
Parent-Peer Interaction
LD
-.20
-.24
-.30
Controls +. 14 + 35+ + .43" Teacher-Peer Interaction
LD
-.35+
Controls
+
+.13
.31
+
.31
-.03
+
.38*
Teacher-Other Items LD
-.41*
Controls
"p +
358
p
<
15 on the teacher index (scores of > 15 on the hyperactivity index are commonly used as
demonstrate role-taking deficits. These deficits are not specific to LD girls or to LD children with hyperactive symptoms.
the criterion for classifying a subject as hyperac-
The data were next analyzed to examine the
tive). By the more stringent criterion ( > 15 on teacher and parent index), 15% of the LD sample would be considered hyperactive; using less stringent criteria ( > 15 on teacher or parent scales), 40% of the LD sample would be considered hyperactive. Two control children obtained scores of > 15 on the teacher index only.
relative importance of role-taking deficits in ac-
counting for the peer relationship problems of LD children. Separate 2 X 2 ANOVA's were run on each of the three peer relationship measures.
The independent variables were group (LD vs. Control) and age (7 years vs. 9 years). For all three analyses, no significant main effects or in-
teraction effects were found (see Table 3 for means). Thus in the present study, LD children
The data replicate those of Dickstein and War-
ren hereby indicating that LD children
TABLE 5
Summary of Stepwise Multiple-Regression Analysis Dependent Measure/ Independent Measure R2 R2 F Ratio Beta Group and Step Entered Change for R2 Change Parent-Peer Parent Index (1) .28 .28 7.21' .71 .53
LD
Group
Sex
(2)
Test
.45
AC
.16
(3)
4.9*
.47
.02
.44 .86
.15 -.30
Teacher-Peer Teacher Index (1) .67 .67 38.85'* .76 .82
LD
Group
Age
(2)
Test
.77
A
.10
(3)
.79
7.2* .02
-.33
-.47
1.64
-.35
Teacher-Other Items Teacher Index (1) .47 .47 15.31'* .74 .69
LD Group Test AC (2) .61 .14 5.61' -.37 -.28 Parent-Peer
Test
AC
(1)
.18
.18
3.79
.37
.43
Control Group Parent Index (2) .25 .07 1.50 .27 .34
Teacher-Peer Teacher Index (1) .71 .71 43.30"* .90 .84 Control Group Age (2) .79 .08 6.88' .30 .10 Test
C
(3)
.80
.00
.77
.31
Teacher-Other Items Teacher Index (1) .68 .68 38.54** .83 .83
Control Group
'p< .01 * p< .05 Note. Test AC refers to the sum of the cognitive and affective role-taking items. Test C is the cognitive role-taking items, while Test A is the affective role-taking items.
Volume 5. Fall 1982 359
This content downloaded from 128.220.196.246 on Wed, 19 Dec 2018 20:34:07 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
were perceived by both teachers and parents as demonstrating similar peer-interaction patterns
as normal age-matched controls. Even though no between-group differences were found on measures of peer interaction,
tive symptoms and then sex. That is, among the LD group, children with relatively high hyperactivity scores and females were found to be most at risk for having peer problems. For the control
group, none of the variables was significantly
within-group variability was examined and
associated with parent ratings.
related to role-taking skills. Results of simple correlation coefficients indicated that the relation-
ships between role-taking skills and peer-
For the LD group, Teacher-Peer ratings were best associated with hyperactivity and then age (older children were rated as having fewer prob-
interaction patterns were not stable (see Table
lems). While similar results were obtained for the
taking measure, (b) the adult rater, and (c) the
control group, removal of the effects of hyperactivity resulted in younger children being rated as
group rated. In the case of the control group, the results indicated that poor role-taking skills were
exhibiting fewer problems. The results of the equation in which Teacher-Other was the in-
4): i.e., they varied as a function of (a) the role-
significantly related to better peer-interaction
dependent variable indicated that hyperactivity
ratings. For the LD group, the relationships were in the predicted direction (except for the correla-
and then role-taking skills (total score) were
tion between cognitive role-taking and teacher peer rating), but few of the correlations were
significantly associated with teachers' ratings of peer interaction for the LD group. For the con-
statistically significant.
trol group, only hyperactivity was significantly related to Teacher-Other.
To examine the relative importance of roletaking skills in accounting for the peer-
dicate that much of the variance of LD and con-
relationship difficulties of LD children and to ex-
trol children's peer-interaction patterns was ac-
amine, on a limited basis, the kinds of LD
children who were most at risk for peerrelationship problems, a series of stepwise multiple-regression analyses were run. Because there were three separate measures of peer interaction, three multiple-regression analyses
were run, each using a different dependent (criterion) variable. The independent (predictor)
variables were: hyperactivity index score (Teacher index was used in analyses where
Teacher-Peer and Teacher-Other was the in-
dependent variable; Parent index was used
when Parent-Peer was the independent
measure); sex; IQ score (full-scale WISC-R for the LD subjects; PPVT for the control students);
number of grades repeated; age (in months); and role-taking skills. For the last measure, one
total score for correct affective and cognitive items was entered into the equation when both affective and cognitive tasks had the same correlation patterns as the criterion variable (i.e., they were both negative or both positive). When the correlations between the criterion variable
The results of the regression equations in-
counted for by levels of hyperactivity; in only one case (out of six) did role-taking skills account for any of these variances. DISCUSSION
The results of the present study suggeste
LD children's role-taking skills were developed as those of age-matched co However, these deficits were found to be relatively weakly associated with social skills in the peer domain. This finding was evidenced by the perceptions of both teachers and parents that
the peer interactions of the LD sample were similar to those of the controls and by the results of the within-group analyses indicating that role-
taking skills were not strongly associated with parents' and teachers' ratings of peer interactions. For both the LD and control groups the most powerful factors associated with peer relationships were hyperactivity scores.
Even though role-taking measures differentiated LD children from controls, our data failed to provide much validity for these measures. In
the case of the control subjects, we found that good role-taking skills were associated with poorer peer ratings. For the LD subjects, good separately into the equation. Separate analyses were run for the LD and control groups. role-taking The skills were mostly related to good results are summarized in Table 5. peer relationships; however, the relationships For the LD group, parents' ratings of peer were weak and were not as important as other relationships were best associated with hyperacmeasures in accounting for the variance of the and each of the tasks differed in direction, the two individual task scores were entered
360 Learning Disability Quarterly
This content downloaded from 128.220.196.246 on Wed, 19 Dec 2018 20:34:07 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
peer ratings. It is possible that if more direct measures of peer interactions had been used (e.g., on-site observations, sociometric ratings), role-taking skills would have been related to these more ecologically valid measures. Never-
assigned poorer ratings to LD girls than did the teachers of these girls, the following explanations
may be offered: (a) the girls' behaviors at school were better than at home; (b) parents of LD girls
tance of validating experimental measures.
were more intolerant of certain interpersonal behaviors than were teachers even though the patterns were the same in the two contexts; (c)
Although these differentiate clinical from normal
the parents' negative perceptions may eventually
groups, they may bear little relation to the target
behaviors. In general, the developmental
have had some impact on the LD girls who may have withdrawn, felt rejected, etc. This area
literature contains few attempts at validating
clearly merits future research attention.
role-taking measures; as a result, the importance of these constructs to the development of social
While the present study is limited by small sample sizes and predictor variables, its major
theless, the present results emphasize the impor-
competence is relatively unexplored (Enright &
Lapsley, 1980). A major finding of the present study was that,
as a group, the LD children's peer interactions were similar to those of the controls. These
value lies in its attempt at examining the generalizability of the finding that LD children demonstrate social disabilities. As indicated above, our findings show that this is not an accurate characterization of all LD children.
results are not consistent with those reported in the literature. We suspect that they reflect difREFERENCES
ferences in the composition of our LD group rather than the measures used. While some of
the LD children exhibited high levels of hyperactivity (15 %), the sample did not include a signifi-
cant number of LD-hyperactive subjects. Furthermore, the results of the regression equations
suggest that among the independent variables, hyperactivity levels were most strongly and con-
sistently related to interpersonal relationship ratings for both groups of subjects. Therefore, these data suggest that LD children's social dif-
ficulties reported in the literature may be associated with the hyperactivity syndrome rather than with a learning disability per se. Our
conclusions are supported (a) by findings that LD adolescent boys with no hyperactivity were as normally behaved and as prosocial as controls (Ackerman, Dykman, & Peters, 1977); and (b) by data showing the extreme social and emotional difficulties experienced by hyperactives from early childhood through late adolescence (Weiss & Hechtman, 1979). Our data also suggest that LD girls are at risk for interpersonal difficulties. After removing the
effects of hyperactivity, sex was found to be significantly related to parent peer ratings. While these data are consistent with the results of other
studies (Bryan, 1974; Scranton & Rykman, 1979), there are no explanations for these find-
ings. Inspection of our data raises certain hypotheses, however. Because parents assigned poorer ratings to LD girls than to LD boys, and
Ackerman, P.T., Dykman, R.A., & Peters, J.E. Teenage status of hyperactive and nonhyperactive learning disabled boys. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1977, 47, 577-596. Ackerman, P.T., Elardo, P.T., & Dykman, R.A. A psychosocial study of hyperactive and learning disabled boys. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology,
1979, 7, 91-99. Blishen, B., & McRoberts, H. A revised socioeconomic index for occupations in Canada. Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 1976,
13, 71-79. Bruck, M. The adult functioning of children with spe-
cific learning disabilities: A follow-up study. Manuscript submitted for publication, 1982. Bryan, T. Peer popularity of learning disabled chil-
dren. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1974, 7,
261-268.
Bryan, T. Peer popularity of learning disabled children: A replication. Journal of Learning Disabilities,
1976, 9, 307-311. Bryan, T. Learning disabled children's comprehension of nonverbal communication. Journal of Learning
Disabilities, 1977, 10, 36-41. Dickstein, E.B., & Warren, D.R. Role-taking deficits in learning disabled children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1980, 13, 33-37. Douglas, V.I., & Peters, K.G. Toward a clearer definition of the attentional deficit of hyperactive children.
In G.A. Hale & M. Lewis (Eds.), Attention and the development of cognitive skills. New York: Plenum Press, 1980.
Enright, R.D., & Lapsley, D.K. Social role-taking: A review of the constructs, measures, and measure-
Volume 5, Fall 1982 361
This content downloaded from 128.220.196.246 on Wed, 19 Dec 2018 20:34:07 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
ment properties. Review of Education Research, 1980, 50, 647-674. Goyette, C.H., Conners, K.C., & Ulrich, R. Normative data on Revised Conners Parent and Teacher
Shantz, C.U. The development of social cognition. In
E. Mavis Hetherington (Ed.), Review of child development research (Vol. 5). University of
Chicago Press, 1975, 257-323. Rating Scales. Journal of Abnormal Child Weiss, G., & Hechtman, L. The hyperactive child Psychology, 1978, 6, 221-236. syndrome. Science, 1979, 205, 1348-1354. Keogh, B., Tchir, C., & Windeguth-Behn, A. Teach- Wiig, E.H., & Harris, S.P. Perception and interpretaers' perceptions of educationally high risk children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1974, 7, 367-374. Lambert, N.M., & Sandoval, J. The prevalence of learning disabilities in a sample of children considered hyperactive. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 1980, 8, 33-50. Owen, R.W., Adams, P.A., Forrest, T., Stolz, L.M., & Fisher, S. Learning disorders in children: sibling studies. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1971, 36, No. 144. Paulauskas, S.L., & Campbell, S.G. Social perspective taking and teacher ratings of peer interaction in
tion of nonverbally expressed emotions by adolescents with learning disabilities. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1974, 38, 239-245. Wong, B., & Wong, R. Role-taking skills in normal achieving and learning disabled children. Learning Disability Quarterly, 1980, 3, 3-11.
FOOTNOTES
The research was supported by the National Heal and Welfare Research and Development Program through a National Health Research Scholar award t
hyperactive boys. Journal of Abnormal Child Margaret Bruck. This is manuscript No. 82-03 Psychology, 1979, 7, 483-493. McGill-Montreal Children's Hospital Research In Phipps, P.M. The LD learner is often a boy - Why? stitute. Academic Therapy, 1982, 17, 425-430. Ross, A.O. Psychological disorders of children. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980. Scranton, T.R., & Ryckman, D.B. Sociometric status Requests for reprints should be addressed to: Marga of learning disabled children in an integrative pro-
gram. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1979, 12,
402-407.
Bruck, McGill-Montreal Children's Hospital Learnin
Centre, 3640 Mountain Street, Montreal, Quebec H3G 2A8.
362 Learning Disability Quarterly
This content downloaded from 128.220.196.246 on Wed, 19 Dec 2018 20:34:07 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms