The Interpretation of Social Interactions By Mildly Handicapped and Nondisabled Children

Abstract

Clinical observations of mildly handicapped children—learning disabled (LD), socially/emotionally disturbed (SED), and educable mentally retarded (EMR)—often indicate deficiencies in accurately perceiving and interpreting certain aspects of nonverbal communication. The present investigation was undertaken to empirically evaluate these observations. The Social Interpretation Task (SIT) was presented to groups of 24 LD, SED, EMR, and nondisabled (ND) males at two age levels (younger CA 7-0 to 11-11 years of age; older CA 13-0 to 17-11). Teacher behavior ratings were also computed on each subject. Two two-way analyses of variance performed on the accuracy scores on the SIT and on total behavior ratings indicated a significant difference for group membership on the SIT, and significant differences for group membership, age level, as well as interaction between the two independent variables on behavior ratings. Correlational analysis revealed no significant relationship between performance on the SIT and behavior rating scores. The results do not support many of the clinical observations made by leading professionals in special education. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.