Early student–teacher relationships of children with and without intellectual disability: Contributions of behavioral, social, and self-regulatory competence
Section snippets
Student–teacher relationships: implications for adjustment
The quality of the STR in kindergarten and first grade has been shown to predict children's behavioral adjustment, social acceptance, school attitudes, engagement, and academic performance both concurrently and in later elementary school (Hamre and Pianta, 2001, Pianta and Stuhlman, 2004, Silver et al., 2005). Research supports the theoretical idea that young children who have close, positive relationships with the adults in their lives are better equipped to attend to their environment,
Student–teacher relationships: implications for at-risk children
Positive relationships with teachers seem to play a particularly strong role for children at risk for adverse outcomes, by deflecting the course of their adjustment in school. For instance, Hamre and Pianta (2001) reported that, when children began school with high behavior problems, kindergarten STRs characterized by low conflict and high closeness predicted better work habits, fewer disciplinary infractions, and lower likelihood of school suspension in later elementary school. This protective
Risk factors for poor STRs among children with intellectual disability
Children with ID require more adult assistance in mastering the basic behavioral, academic, and social skills necessary to get by in school. Relative to their typically developing peers, these children enter school with more behavior problems (e.g. Baker et al., 2003), more negative parent–child interactions (e.g. Floyd & Phillippe, 1993), and difficulties with emotional and behavioral regulation (Wilson, 1999), each of which may put them at risk for school maladjustment and difficulty forming
Participants
Participants were 140 children with intellectual disability (n = 58) or typical development (n = 82), as well as their parents and teachers. Families were recruited into a longitudinal study when the child was 3 years old (30–40 months). The larger study from which this sample was drawn addressed the development of behavior problems and psychopathology in children with and without intellectual disability (ID), and the sample was recruited at age three specifically to include children with ID as
Analytic plan
We first used t tests to determine whether there were significant differences in STRS Total scores by status group (ID vs. TD) at age 6, and correlations to examine whether cognitive level (IQ) within status groups correlated significantly with student-teacher relationship (STR) quality total score. Next we assessed whether other early and concurrent child characteristics predicted STR quality above and beyond ID status, the relative contribution of these variables, and the total variance
Discussion
The present study examined the student–teacher relationships of 6-year-old children with and without intellectual disability, and considered early and concurrent child characteristics that might account for differences in student–teacher relationship (STR) quality. Our first question asked whether children with intellectual disability (ID) experienced poorer relationships with teachers than did children with typical development (TD). Results indicated that 6-year-old children with ID
Acknowledgements
This article is based on the activities of the Collaborative Family Study (CFS), supported by NICHD grant 34879-1459 (Dr. Keith Crnic, Principal Investigator, and Drs. Bruce L. Baker, Jan Blacher and Craig Edelbrock, co-PIs). The CFS is conducted at three sites: Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, the Fernald Child Study Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, CA, and the Vernon Eady Center at the University of California, Riverside, CA.
We appreciate the assistance of
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