Interpersonal problem-solving skills and classroom behavioral adjustment in learning-disabled adolescents and comparison peers

Abstract

Teaching interpersonal problem-solving skills to learning-disabled (LD) students is thought to improve the classroom adjustment of these students. However, very few studies have determined the relationship between such skills and adjustment. Thirty mainstreamed LD adolescents and thirty non-LD classmates in two suburban middle-class New Jersey school districts were administered the Platt and Spivack (1977) test of five interpersonal cognitive problem-solving (ICPS) skills (J. Platt & G. Spivack, Measures of Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-Solving. A Manual, Philadelphia: Hahnemann MH/MR Center), and their teachers rated each of the students on the School Behavior Checklist. LD adolescents scored significantly lower than non-LD peers on four of the five ICPS skills. No significant differences were found between the groups on the five School Behavior Checklist subscales that measure classroom social behavior. Few significant correlations were found between the ICPS skills and classroom adjustment for either the LD or non-LD students.