The Relationship between Social Information Processing and In-School Suspension for Students with Behavioral Disorders

Abstract

We analyzed the social information processing of 26 students with behavioral disorders following assignment to in-school suspension. Student responses to the question “What led to your being sent to in-school suspension?” were coded for attributions of hostile intent and for reactive aggression. In addition, student responses to the question “What can you do to solve this problem?” were coded for the number of relevant solutions, irrelevant solutions, and absence of solutions. Using weighted multiple regression, results showed that the interaction between students' perceived hostile intent of teachers and reactive aggression predicted the number of assignments to in-school suspension. In addition, the number of relevant solutions predicted the number of assignments to in-school suspension. These findings suggest that assignment to in-school suspension occurred when students reacted aggressively because they perceived that the teacher deliberately provoked them. The positive regression coefficient between the number of relevant behavioral alternatives and assignment to in-school suspension indicates that these students were able to generate solutions that would have prevented their referral to in-school suspension. We discuss these findings in conjunction with the literature on social information processing interventions and functional behavioral assessment.