SOCIAL COMPETENCE OF PRESCHOOLERS WITH DISABI LIT1 ES

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, 6r 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. As the educational system has moved toward addressing the needs of the “whole child”, there has been an increase in the amount of research conducted on the social skills of students of all ages. For example, research investigating the peer acceptance of mainstreamed preschoolers with disabilities, though limited, has shown that they are less socially integrated than their nondisabled peers, and that there are differences in the extent to which various categories of disabilities are socially integrated (Quay, 1991). Quay suggested that “Since some handicapped groups are viewed more positively than others ” (i.e., those with physical disabilities were preferred over youngsters with mental retardation or emotional disorders) (‘it is reasonable to assume that th