Group Counseling with Learning Disabled Children

Abstract

Children identified as learning disabled often have concurrent emotional and interpersonal difficulties. Beyond their academic difficulties, a “spiral'' can occur in which others' perceptions of the child's behaviors and the child's self-perception interact, enhancing the likelihood of the child's expecting and then experiencing social failures. This study examined the effects of two group-counseling approaches –-social skills and relaxation training–-on LD children's self-concept and on their in-class behavior, as assessed by their teachers. Forty six first- and second-grade LD children were randomly assigned to one of three conditions–-social skills, relaxation training, or no treatment control. Scores from the Primary Self-concept Inventory and the Walker Problem Behavior Identification Checklist indicated that the Social Skills group had more positive social self-concept scores than the other groups, though there was no difference on personal self or intellectual self, while the relaxation training group was perceived by teachers as exhibiting less acting out and marginally less distractibility than the other groups. Results are discussed in terms of implications for counselors and for researchers in the LD and counseling fields.