A Comparison Across Settings Between Levels of Academic Engagement and Social Interaction in an Emotionally Disturbed Student

Increasingly, educators instruct students with special needs in general instead of special education classrooms even though little evidence exists suggesting that students with disabilities exhibit relatively increased academic responding and appropriate social interaction when taught in general education environments. The current observational study involved a fourth-grade, male student with emotional disturbances who received math instruction in general education and resource room settings. The purpose of the study was to determine whether the target student’s behavior varied across instructional environments. Results indicated that, compared to behaviors emitted in the resource room, those observed in the general education classroom involved lower levels of academic responding, appropriate behavior, and positive social interaction. Implications regarding future research were discussed