Mentally handicapped children in special schools in Israel: A focus on social behavior

Reiter S., Friedman, L., & Levi, A. M. Mentally handicapped children in special schools in Israel: A focus on social behavior. Int. J. Rehab. Research, 1982, 5 (4), 477-485. As a part of a needs-assessment study, done in Israeli special schools for the mentally handicapped, social skills and personality characteristics were assessed on the Adaptive Behavior Scale (Nihira, Foster, Shellhaas, & Lelans, 1974). Structured observations were done in the classrooms of the behavior of each child and classroom climate questionnaire was administered to the children. Social behavior was found to be multidimensional consisting of: Independence skills, personal maladaptive behaviors and social maladaption. Correlations done between the ABS dimensions and the observations and classrooms's climate, indicated that the more active and agitaded child was less successful in terms of “vocational activity” and “self direction” (ABS domains), which were the behaviors most valued by the teachers. The more active child was also characterized by exhibiting positive and negative social behaviors, as indicated by responses given to the classroom climate questionnaire. The general implications of the study to social learning programs are that any curriculum in this area should take into consideration the multidimensionality of social behavior while at the same time take into account the socio-cultural pattern of the society and the personality makeup of mentally handicapped children.