Teacher-Student Interaction Patterns in Classrooms with Mainstreamed Mildly Handicapped Students

Teacher-student interaction patterns in 12 third-grade mainstreamed classrooms were observed with four groups of students: (1) nonhandicapped high achievers, (2) nonhandicapped low achievers, (3) learning disabled, and (4) behaviorally handicapped. Teacher-student interaction was defined using 16 dependent measures derived from the Brophy-Good Teacher-Child Dyadic Interaction System. Multivariate and Univariate Analysis of Variance procedures demonstrated that statistically the groups were significantly different on 8 of the 16 dependent measures. Although the behaviorally handicapped students were treated differently by their regular classroom teachers more frequently than students in the other three groups, no group was given consistent preferential treatment. Most student initiations were nonacademic, and almost one-half of teachers’ feedback and initiations were nonacademic. Furthermore, teachers used more disapproving than positive feedback. The results indicate a need for teachers in mainstreamed classrooms to devote more time to academic tasks and to use better classroom management techniques.