Social Skills and Social Perception of LD and Nonhandicapped Elementary-School Students

Twenty-six pairs of elementary-aged LD and nonhandicapped children were assessed individually on social perception (empathy) and social skills measures. Empathy was determined by the children's responses to stories involving various emotional situations, and was defined both as their tendency to identify with the emotion another person is experiencing (empathy-1) as well as their ability to label emotions in others (empathy-2). Social skill was measured by teacher ratings of the subjects on the Social Behavior Assessment (SBA). With the exception of the Task-Related category on the SBA, statistically significant differences were not found between the two subject groups on the empathy and social skills measures. Moderate correlations between social skill and empathy were obtained only for the nonhandicapped children. Empathy−1 and −2 appeared to measure distinct skills, thus relating differently to the social skills assessed. These findings question the assumed relationship between social skill and social perception, particularly with reference to the usefulness of social perception instruction of learning disabled individuals.