ABSTRACT
In recent years, much attention has been devoted to the study of interpersonal skills among youngsters with learning disabilities. Beginning with seminal studies by Bryan in the 70s (Bryan, 1974, 1976), many students with learning disabilities were found to encounter difficulties in their peer relationships (see reviews by La Greca, 1981, 1987; Wiener, 1987). Concerns about these youngsters’ social relationships led to the development of intervention programs to teach learning disabled (LD) students more effective interpersonal skills, in order to improve their peer relations (La Greca & Mesibov, 1979, 1981; Madden & Slavin, 1983; Schumaker & Hazel, 1984; Vaughn, Lancelotta, & Minnis, 1988). While such intervention programs appear to be important and helpful, a closer examination of the research on the peer relations of learning disabled students may be critical to furthering our understanding of the types of peer problems LD students encounter and to improving our intervention strategies. Consequently, one goal of this chapter is to describe recent research on the types of peer status difficulties that affect children with learning disabilities.
