Classroom Behaviors of LD and Nonhandicapped Girls

Abstract

No classroom observations have involved only LD females as subjects. The present study was conducted to determine any behavior differences between elementary LD and nonhandicapped girls in the regular classrom. Data were collected on child behaviors, child-child interactions and teacher-child interactions. Results showed that the LD girls spent less time doing schoolwork than nonhandicapped girls. Unlike in research with LD boys, teachers were not found to (a) spend more time interacting with the LD children or (b) initiate more approaches to the LD girls. However, the teachers responded significantly less frequently to call-outs from LD girls. The present findings regarding teacher interactions with LD and nonhandicapped girls differ from those of most previous studies involving boys.