Therapeutic Bonding in Group as an Explanatory Variable of Progress in the Social Competence of Students With Learning Disabilities

This study, conducted in Israel, explores the efficacy of an expressive-supportive group psychotherapy in helping adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) and attention deficits (ADD and ADHD) to increase social competence and friendship. Bonding with the therapist and group members was tested as an explanatory variable of outcomes. The study included 87 students with LD from seven different schools who had been referred to school counseling centers because of social, emotional, and behavior difficulties. The students in each school were randomly divided into experimental and wait-list conditions. Children in the experimental conditions (n = 42) participated in seven small groups, in 15 weekly sessions of group therapy conducted by trained school counselors. Results indicated gains on the social competence measure, but not on the friendship-intimacy measure. Therapist-related bonding was more frequently related to outcomes than member-related bonding.