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Group Counseling with Learning Disabled Children

Effects of Social Skills and Relaxation Training on Self-Concept and Classroom Behavior

Martin Amerikaner is assistant professor ir the Department of Educational Psychology and director of the Diagnostic Learning Center at the University of Houston. He received his PhD degree in psychology from the University of Florida. Address: Martin Amerikaner, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Houston. Houston TX 77004.

Mary Lue Summerlin, EdD

Mary Lue Summerlin is a psychologist for the Deer Park Independent School District in Deer Park. Texas. She received her EdD degree in counseling from the University of Houston.

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.

Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 15, No. 6, 340-343 (1982)
DOI: 10.1177/002221948201500607


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