SOCIAL-ADJUSTMENT OF CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT LEARNING-DISABILITIES IN INTEGRATED CLASSROOMS

The social adjustment of 46 children with learning disabilities (LD) and 199 children without LD who were integrated full-time in 3rd-grade classrooms was examined. No differences were found in the proportions of children with LD and children without LD across accepted and unpopular sociometric groups. Two thirds of children with LD had at least 1 reciprocal friend, and more than half had a friendship with a classmate without LD. Girls with LD received the highest number of negative nominations and were the least preferred. Group comparisons of socially adjusted and nonadjusted children, with and without LD, showed that teachers perceived the socially adjusted children with LD to be less socially and academically competent than adjusted children without LD. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of educational setting and classroom composition on children's social adjustment.