Social Competence of Preschoolers with Disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the social skills of three groups of preschoolers: those with learning disabilities (LD), mild mental retardation (MMR), and normal achievement (NA). A total of 98 four- and five-year-old children participated in the study: 27 identified as LD, 22 identified as MMR, and 49 identified as NA. Each child identified as LD and MMR was matched on age, sex, and ethnicity with a NA child. The students' social skills were rated by their teachers using the Adaptive Social Behavior Inventory (Hogan, Scott, & Bauer, 1992). The results indicated significant group differences on the express, comply, and prosocial (combination of express and comply) factors, but not on the disrupt factor. Post hoc analyses indicated that whereas the students with MMR were perceived by their teachers as demonstrating fewer express and comply skills than students in the LD or NA groups, there was little difference between the perceptions of the teachers of the students identified as LD and the teachers of the NA students regarding the social skills that their respective students demonstrated. These results suggest that future research should address the extent to which age appropriate social skills are maintained over time.