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Mediators of the Risk for Problem Behavior in Children with Language Learning Disabilities

Denise D. Vallance, PhD, is a research associate at the C.M. Hincks Institute in Toronto and a Research Fellow at the University of Toronto, Department of Psychiatry. Her research program focuses on understanding the interface between language development and psychopathology in clinical populations.

Richard L. Cummings

Richard L. Cummings, PhD, has worked as a teacher, clinician, and researcher with children and adolescents who have learning disabilities. He is currently executive director of the Integra Foundation, a Toronto children' mental health center addressing the needs of children and youth with learning disabilities.

Tom Humphries

Tom Humphries, PhD, is an associate professor of pediatrics in the Division of Neurology, University of Applied Psychology, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. His research interests include evaluation of treatment outcome and learning and behavioral problems associated with medical conditions. Address: Denise D. Vallance, C.M. Hincks Institute, 114 Maitland St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4Y 1E1.

A developmental-organizational perspective was employed to explore underlying risk for problem behavior in children with language learning disabilities. The independent and relative influences of social discourse and social skills on problem behavior were examined in 50 children with language learning disabilities (LLD) and 50 control children (children without LLD) aged 8 to 12 years. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that when examined independently, both impaired social discourse skill and poor social skills accounted for the negative effect of LLD status on children's problem behavior. When social discourse and social skills were examined simultaneously in relation to problem behavior, social discourse no longer retained its predictive value. This result suggests that children's impaired social interactional functioning is central to the development of behavioral symptomatology. However, the importance of social discourse cannot be overlooked, given the significant correlation between social discourse and social skills ratings. Though these results are correlational in nature, it is argued that the impaired communicative competence of some children with LLD may contribute to poor social skills that ultimately manifest themselves as more clinical problem behaviors characterized by internalizing and externalizing symptomatology. Finally, differences were confirmed in social discourse performance, social skills, and problem behaviors between the children with LLD and the control group children. Findings emphasize the importance of the routine assessment and monitoring of broader social discourse skills, in addition to social competence, in children with LLD.

Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 31, No. 2, 160-171 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/002221949803100206


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