ld students' social skills || assessing social perception abilities in learning disabled...

Hammill Institute on Disabilities

Assessing Social Perception Abilities in Learning Disabled StudentsAuthor(s): Larry Maheady and George E. MaitlandSource: Learning Disability Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 4, LD Students' Social Skills (Autumn, 1982),pp. 363-370Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1510918 .

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ASSESSING SOCIAL PERCEPTION ABILITIES IN

LEARNING DISABLED STUDENTS

.Larry Maheady and George E. Maitland

Abstract. According to clinical observations and experimental investigations of learning disabled students, these individuals experience more difficulty than their nondisabled peers in accurately recognizing and interpreting social cues. It has been suggested that such social perception deficits may be responsible for many of the problems which learning disabled children experience in their everyday social encounters with peers and teachers. For this reason, many special educators have advocated the development of specific remedial activities to ameliorate these deficits. Prior to any widespread implementation of remedial efforts, the data base upon which the deficits were identified must be carefully evaluated. The purpose of this article is to: (a) review experimental attempts at assessing the social perception skills of learning disabled children, (b) discuss methodological concerns relative to these experiments, and (c) suggest possible directions for future social perception research.

The importance of communicating effectively with others has been well documented. Of par- ticular interest in recent years has been the process by which humans are able to interpret social messages from fellow human beings, often in the absence of overt verbal cues. The ability to im- mediately identify, recognize, and interpret the meaning and significance of the behavior of others is referred to as social perception (Johnson & Myklebust, 1967; Mehrabian, 1972).

Clinical observations of learning disabled children indicate that frequently these youngsters' ability to interpret social messages is deficient (Johnson & Myklebust, 1967; Lerner, 1981; Wiig & Semel, 1976). This position has gained additional support through a number of recent empirical investigations (Bachara, 1976; Bruno, 1981; Bryan, 1977; Budreck, 1976; Emery, 1975; Puckett, 1980; Thomas, 1979; Wiig & Harris, 1974). Collectively, the above researchers have found that learning disabled students perform more poorly than their non-

disabled peers on tasks requiring the interpretation of displayed emotions.

In the face of such compelling evidence, special educators have called for immediate intervention aimed at ameliorating the social perception deficits of learning disabled students. Recommendations in this area have ranged from developing "new" assessment and remediation packages to complete restructuring of current teacher-training programs (Lerner, 1981; Min- skoff, 1980a, 1980b; Puckett, 1980; Wallbrown, Fremont, Nelson, Wilson, & Fischer, 1979). These remedial recommendations should be highly lauded, provided research findings to date have accurately assessed

LARRY MAHEADY, Ph.D., is Assistant Pro- fessor of Education, State University College of New York at Fredonia. GEORGE E. MAITLAND, Ed.D., is Assistant Professor of Special Education, University of Pittsburgh.

Volume 5, Fall 1982 363



children's ability to interpret social stimuli. However, prior to implementing such remedial efforts on a wide basis, a number of issues must be addressed.

The purpose of this article is to: (a) review empirical investigations specifically focusing on learning disabled (LD) children's ability to interpret various social messages, (b) discuss methodological concerns inherent in these investigations, and (c) suggest possible directions for future research in this area.

EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF SOCIAL PERCEPTION

In order to investigate the manner in which individuals perceive and interpret social messages, researchers have developed various methodological strategies. To date, the majority of investigations in this area have focused almost exclusively upon the interpretation of emotional displays as depicted in either facial expressions or through vocal paralanguage (Maitland, 1977). Typical research paradigms have in- volved the presentation of experimental stimuli such as still photographs, videotapes, and/or LP recordings to groups of learning disabled and nondisabled children through isolated perception channels, i.e., visual or vocal alone. Sub- jects were then required to choose (in multiple- choice fashion) the correct emotions being presented in the experimental stimuli.

The first study located which included learning disabled individuals in the experimental sample was conducted by Wiig and Harris (1974). These investigators presented a videotape of a young female's nonverbal expressions of various emotions to 15 male and 2 female LD adolescents and 17 matched controls. Subjects were required to identify the emotions being displayed in each of 24 nonidentical sequences. Results indicated that learning disabled subjects made significantly more errors in interpreting emotions than did their nondisabled counterparts. In a related study Bachara (1976) ad- ministered the Borke Scales of Empathy (Borke, 1973) to 50 male learning disabled subjects and 50 controls matched for sex, age, race, and geographic location. The Borke Scales consist of 16 stories which are presented either auditorily or with accompanying pictures. Following ex- posure to each story, experimental subjects were requested to choose from a series of four faces

the appropriate emotion being displayed by the main character. LD subjects were found to make significantly more errors in identifying emotions than their nondisabled peers.

In another study examining the ability to interpret emotional displays, Emery (1975) presented groups of learning disabled and nondisabled children with a motion picture of two cartoon faces drawn to represent happy, sad, angry, and neutral affect. In half of the films, one face underwent a transformation of expression during a "social encounter". Again, research findings indicated that learning disabled children were significantly less accurate than their nondisabled peers in correctly identifying displayed emotions.

Budreck (1976) introduced a series of still photographs containing various emotional displays to groups of learning disabled and "normal" children. Learning disabled children were again found to make significantly fewer correct interpretations than their normal counterparts. Bryan (1977) also investigated LD children's ability to interpret social messages by administering a "kiddie" version of the Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity (PONS) (Rosenthal, Archer, Koivumaki, DiMatteo, & Rodgers, 1974) to groups of 23 LD and 11 nondisabled children. The PONS is a 220-item videotape consisting of two-second clips of emotions displayed through three visual channels (face, body, and face-plus- body) and two voice channels (scrambled speech and electronically filtered speech). Results from this investigation were consistent with previous findings showing that learning disabled children were less accurate than their nondisabled peers in identifying displayed emotions.

Thomas (1979) essentially replicated Bryan's work in a study involving both male and female learning disabled and nondisabled children. While the author failed to find significant sex differences in performance, she did report significant differences in interpretation accuracy in favor of nondisabled children.

After being modified by substitution of a teacher for a trained actor, the PONS was presented to groups of academically talented, "average", and learning disabled students (Puckett, 1980). Results from this investigation indicated that academically talented children were superior to average students in their ability

364 Learning Disability Quarterly



to identify emotional cues. Average students, in turn, were consistently more accurate than their LD counterparts in correctly identifying nonverbal cues.

The research studies reviewed to this point have all been similar inasmuch as they examined differences in social perception accuracy by presenting information to subjects through isolated perception channels, i.e., auditory or visual. The first attempt at examining the inter- pretability of social messages by presenting stimuli in auditory and visual channels simultaneously was conducted by Maitland (1977). In this investigation, groups of LD, emotionally disturbed (ED), and nondisabled children at two age levels (CA 7-0 to 10-0 and CA 12-0 to 16-0) were presented with videotaped sequences of emotional displays. The videotape was shown under three conditions: (a) auditory cues alone, (b) visual cues alone, and (c) auditory-plus-visual cues. Results indicated that nondisabled students at both age levels were significantly more accurate than either LD or ED children in identifying emotions when stimuli were presented through isolated perception channels. However, no significant differences were noted when cues were presented simultaneously in both perception channels. In a more recent investigation, Maheady (1981) found no significant differences in the ability of learning disabled and nondisabled children to interpret brief sequences of social interactions when stimuli were presented in auditory and visual channels simultaneously.

In addition to examining individual differences in LD children's ability to interpret emotional displays, more recent investigations have at- tempted to evaluate their ability to derive meaning from additional aspects of person perception and situation interpretation. An initial attempt in this area was made by Bruno (1981) who presented the Test of Social Inference (TSI) (Ed- monson, DeJung, Leland, & Leach, 1974) to groups of 20 male LD and nondisabled children. The TSI consists of 30 stimulus pictures which depict various social situations accompanied by standard questions. Subjects were requested to respond to three types of questions: (a) what happened in the picture, (b) what caused it, and (c) what happened next. Results indicated that LD children made significantly more errors than their nondisabled peers in interpreting social

situations and predicting consequences. However, no significant differences were noted between the two groups' responses to questions concerning causality.

Maheady (1981) examined additional parameters of social perception by administering the Social Interpretation Task (SIT) to groups of LD, socially/emotionally disturbed (SED), educable mentally retarded (EMR), and nondisabled males at two age levels (CA 7-0 to 11-11 and CA 13-0 to 17-11). The SIT is a 30-minute videotape consisting of 20 natural sequences of social interaction, each lasting from 30 to 60 seconds (Archer & Akert, 1977). Viewers are requested to answer a different in- terpretative question about the people in each scene. For example, the first scene shows two women playing with a seven-month-old baby. After the scene is finished, viewers are asked to identify (by checking the appropriate box) which of the two women is the baby's mother. Another scene shows two men discussing a game of basketball they had just finished playing. Viewers are asked to decide which man won the game. Maheady found that only EMR youngsters made significantly fewer correct responses to SIT questions. While socially/emotionally disturbed children also experienced difficulty in correctly interpreting the social messages depicted in most scenes, their performance failed to reach significance. It is interesting to note that LD youngsters at both age levels performed as well as, if not better than, their nondisabled counterparts.

In sum, 10 studies were located which examined LD children's ability to interpret various aspects of nonverbal cues. For the most part, results of these investigations suggested that learning disabled children performed more poorly than their nondisabled agemates. Such findings have prompted special educators to call for the immediate development of remediation strategies, ranging from magic-circle and transactional-analysis activities to bibliotherapy and psychiatric consultation (Lerner, 1981). In addition, there has been an increased demand for expanding current teacher-training programs to provide prospective teachers with specific techniques for remediating social perception deficits in their students (Fremont, Wallbrown, & Nelson, 1978; Puckett, 1980; Smith, 1979). Before such comprehensive recommendations

Volume5, Fall 1982 365



are implemented at the classroom level, the data base upon which they are made must be carefully scrutinized.

METHODOLOGICAL CONCERNS IN SOCIAL PERCEPTION RESEARCH

Findings from a number of social perception studies involving LD children have resulted in the generation of some definitive conclusions. For example, it has been posited that deficiencies in the ability to decode various messages and/or cues are responsible for many of the inappropriate behaviors exhibited by individuals during social encounters. Further, it has been suggested that such social perception deficits are unique to a population of individuals identified as learning disabled. Indeed, Bader (1975) described social perception deficits as perhaps the most debilitating of all learning disabilities. In light of these conclusions, a plethora of process- oriented intervention recommendations designed specifically for use with LD individuals have emerged [see Lerner (1981) and Minskoff (1980a, 1980b), for a complete description].

While the present authors do not agree with the circular logic used to reach the aforemen- tioned conclusions, no attempt will be made here to debate the issue. Instead, we will focus on two related topics believed to seriously limit the utility of previously generated findings. That is, (a) the similarity between stimuli used in social perception studies and cues available to individuals in the natural environment, and (b) the validation of the existence of social perception deficits in an in vivo setting. Stimulus Similarities Between Laboratory Tasks and Natural Settings

In an attempt to examine the social perception skills of LD youngsters, researchers have developed numerous experimental stimuli which presumably simulate the type of social cues available to individuals in their natural environment. The degree to which such experimental stimuli resemble naturally occurring social cues will have a considerable impact upon the generalizability of research findings. That is, the greater the stimulus similarities, the greater the generalizability of the findings. However, if stimuli used in laboratory tasks differ significantly from the type of social cues typically encountered in "real-life" settings, performance in one setting need not be predicated upon perfor-

mance in the other. It is the authors' contention that more support exists for the latter assertion.

Initial criticism of social perception methodological practices was raised by Dubin and Dubin (1965) who questioned the naturalness of the experimental stimuli, as well as the limited range of research methods and materials utilized. Hastorf, Schneider, and Polefka (1970) later criticized the practice of using isolated perception channels, i.e., vision or audition, in presentations of mental stimuli to subjects. The authors noted that in normal discourse such cues do not exist in isolation.

Archer and Akert (1977) also questioned previous methodological practices used to elicit information regarding social perception ability. These authors cited four factors which seriously limit the extent to which laboratory findings are generalizable: (a) the presentation of emotional stimuli through isolated perception channels, (b) the use of posed channel contradictions (reported to be extremely rare in normal social encounters), (c) the use of subjective or ascribed criteria for judging an individual's performance, and (d) the sole reliance on labeling of emotions to the exclusion of other aspects of person perception and situation interpretation.

According to the above criticisms, experimental procedures utilized in social perception studies to date have been artificial in nature. For the most part, displayed emotions have been simulated rather than actual, the verbal content has been controlled and presented out of con- text, and the subjects have been requested to select emotional intent from a finite list of emotions. Consequently, it is clear that such stimulus characteristics deviate drastically from the type of social cues encountered in "real-life" settings. The implications of such a conclusion are equally clear. That is, poor performance on a laboratory task designed to identify displayed emotions need not be related to responding to similar emotions in the natural environment. In other words, while it is true that LD children frequently performed more poorly than their nondisabled peers in identifying displayed emotions, it is equally possible that their performance was task specific, and that such differences may not exist given more naturally occurring situations. Preliminary findings appear to support the latter conclusion (Maheady, 1981; Maitland, 1977).




Validation of Social Perception Deficits in the Natural Environment

Clinical observations of learning disabled children have suggested that they experience much more difficulty in accurately recognizing and interpreting social cues than their nondisabled peers (Lerner, 1981). As a result, these children frequently do or say the wrong things. Similarly, Wiig and Semel (1976) hypothesized that displays of aggression, hostility, insecurity, and frustration often attributed to LD children may be a direct result of their inability to accurately "read" social messages. More recently, Fremont, Wallbrown, and Nelson (1978) posited the existence of four types of social perception deficits and provided examples of their behavioral manifestations. These included: (a) verbal receptive, e.g., misinterpreting con- versation, (b) verbal expressive, e.g., speaking socially unacceptable words, (c) nonverbal receptive, e.g., misinterpreting subtle nonverbal cues, and (d) nonverbal expressive, e.g., using socially unacceptable gestures. From this discussion, there appears to be some consensus regarding the characteristics of LD children with social perception deficits. Unfortunately, these observations have remained purely speculative in nature. Few empirical attempts have been made to document the existence of behavioral characteristics associated with social perception deficits in the natural environment. In fact, we found no systematic attempts in the literature at documenting such behavioral difficulties. In- stead, researchers developed artificial laboratory tasks to measure social perception skills, and then assumed that their findings validly represented overt behavior in social situations. Given the difficulties associated with using the procedures outlined in the previous section, little can be inferred about the relationship between a child's performance in a laboratory setting and his/her overt performance in the natural environment.

In an attempt to more closely examine this relationship, Maheady, Maitland, and Sainato (Note 1) recently developed a Behavior Report- ing Scale containing descriptions of 12 specific behaviors frequently associated with social perception deficits, e.g., misinterpreting what others say, misinterpreting facial expressions and gestures, interjecting inappropriate comments, etc. The scale was presented to the homeroom

teachers of groups of 12 learning disabled, socially/emotionally disturbed, educable mentally retarded, and nondisabled children at two age levels (CA 7-0 to 11-11 and CA 13-0 to 17-11). Teachers were requested to note the relative frequency with which each student displayed the designated behaviors in the classroom. Response alternatives included: (a) practically never, (b) less than once per week, (c) weekly, (d) daily, and (e) more than once per day. Results revealed significant differences between the nondisabled and mildly handicapped groups, as well as between younger and older subjects.

The finding that mildly handicapped youngsters reportedly displayed higher frequen- cies of the targeted inappropriate behaviors than their nondisabled peers was not surprising. Similarly, reports that older subjects engaged in such inappropriate behaviors less often than their younger counterparts was not unexpected. However, the finding that the targeted behaviors were reportedly displayed with similar frequency by socially/emotionally disturbed and educable mentally retarded, as well as learning disabled children was indeed surprising, since behaviors associated with social perception deficits have been used almost exclusively as defining characteristics of learning disabled youngsters. The occurrence of these behaviors with similar frequency in SED and EMR children lends support to the notion of overlapping characteristics among these three mildly handicapped popula- tions (Hallahan & Kauffman, 1976). The results of this study suggest that behavioral manifestations of social perception deficits may be another area of overlap.

Another aspect of the Maheady et al. study was designed to examine the relationship between behavioral rating scores obtained for each experimental subject and the individual's performance on the Social Interpretation Task. If significant positive correlations could be found between subjects' performance in both areas, some support would exist for the generalizability of findings from one setting to the other. Unfor- tunately, little or no relationship was found between performance on the Social Interpretation Task and overt classroom behavior as reported by the teacher (Pearson r = -0.14). Therefore, a youngster may perform poorly on a task designed to assess social perception ability, and yet




display little or no behavioral difficulties in a classroom setting. Conversely, a child might exhibit a high frequency of inappropriate targeted behaviors and still perform successfully on a social perception task. Such findings are in op- position to previously generated conclusions, but are consistent with the behavioral literature regarding the situation-specificity of behavior (Morrison & Bellack, in press). While the present findings must be interpreted cautiously because of their reliance upon verbal reports, they do suggest that a much more careful analysis is war- ranted regarding the relationship between child behavior in two diverse settings.

DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH Based on the present discussion, it should be

apparent that the authors do not agree with either the methodology utilized in previous social perception research or with the sweeping generalizations made regarding the implications of such findings. This does not mean, however, that we do not recognize the existence of social perception skills or do not consider these to be important areas for future inquiry. On the con- trary, we recommend that increased emphasis be placed on such research endeavors. However, to have applicability for practitioners, research efforts must become more systematic and must include performance evaluations in the natural setting. A considerable amount of work in this area still needs to be done. Thus, a number of possible directions may be proposed for additional studies including the following:

1. A more careful analysis is needed of the relationship between performance on an experimental task and functioning in a natural situation. Direct observational techniques should be utilized to identify individuals who exhibit behavioral manifestations of social perception deficits at a high frequency. Such studies could also identify situations that are particularly troublesome for these individuals and, perhaps through videotape analysis, attempt to isolate specific nonverbal or verbal cues that were not interpreted accurately. These situations and cues could then be used in analogue or in vivo settings to train more appropriate response pat- terns.

2. Applied behavior analysis techniques should be used to analyze antecedent and con- sequent events surrounding instances of social

misperception. While it is relatively easy to ex- plain apparent misbehavior through process deficit theory, it is just as plausible to describe such events in terms of response-contingent behavior. In other words, a concerted effort must be made to distinguish between inappropriate behaviors that are attributable to faulty interpretations of antecedent cues and those behaviors that are systematically maintained through environmental reinforcement.

3. The use of extrinsic reward techniques to control for attention factors should also be applied if future researchers continue to use laboratory tasks to measure social perception. Given the abundance of data suggesting that LD children frequently demonstrate significant deficits in their attending skills, it is critical that this variable be controlled in future investigations.

4. The development of more stringent criteria for constructing and interpreting results from '"new"' social perception assessment devices and training packages is also indicated. For example, Morrison and Bellack (in press) suggested that two factors be considered in the use of such materials. First, social perception should not be viewed as a unidimensional trait with broad generality. Rather, perception skill should be viewed as variable across situations. Thus, an individual may be highly adept at reading some cues and not others; similarly, some people may be highly perceptive in certain situations while being oblivious in others.

Second, social perception must be viewed as a more complex process than it has been to date. Social perception deficiencies may result from a number of factors including: (a) a failure to listen, (b) a failure to look, (c) an inability to in- tegrate what is seen and/or heard, (d) an inability to grasp the meaning of the stimuli, or (e) attending to cues which are not relevant at the time. Future attempts at assessing social perception skills, therefore, must take into account both the situational variability of perception skills and the specific nature of deficits manifested in diverse settings.

5. Finally, a more intensive examination of the relationship between the ability to send, as well as to interpret social messages must be undertaken. It has been noted elsewhere (Mor- rison & Bellack, in press) that a strong positive relationship exists between these two skills. Un-




fortunately, such studies have focused primarily upon adult rather than child perceptions, in addition to being confounded by a number of methodological issues.

REFERENCE NOTES 1. Maheady, L., Maitland, G.E., & Sainato, D.M. In-

terpretation of social interactions by learning disabled, socially / emotionally disturbed, educable mentally retarded, and nondisabled children. Manuscript submitted for publication, 1982.

REFERENCES Archer, D., & Akert, R.M. Words and everything else:

Verbal and nonverbal cues in social interpretation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1977, 35, 443-449.

Bachara, G.H. Empathy in learning disabled children. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1976, 43, 541-542.

Bader, B.W. Social perception and learning disabilities. Des Moines, IA: Moon Lithographing & Engraving, 1975.

Borke, H. The development of empathy in Chinese and American children between 3 and 6 years of age: A cross-culture study. Developmental Psychology, 1973, 9, 102-108.

Bruno, R.M. Interpretation of pictorially presented social situations by learning disabled and normal children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1981, 14, 350-352.

Bryan, T. Learning disabled children's comprehension of nonverbal communication. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1977, 10, 501-506.

Budreck, F.J. A comparison of social perception of learning disabled children and normal children (Doctoral dissertation, Southern Illinois University, 1975). Dissertation Abstracts International, 1976, 36, 7942A-7943A. (University Microfilms No. 76-13, 573).

Dubin, R., & Dubin, E.R. Children's social perceptions: A review of research. Child Development, 1965, 36, 809-838.

Edmonson, B., DeJung, J., Leland, H., & Leach, E. The Test of Social Inference. New York: Educa- tional Activities, Inc., 1974.

Emery, J.E. Social perception processes in normal and learning disabled children (Doctoral dissertation, New York University, 1975). Dissertation Abstracts International, 1975, 36, 1942B-1943B. (University Microfilms No. 75-2, 144).

Fremont, T., Wallbrown, F., & Nelson, E. Social misperception and its implications for counseling. Per- sonnel and Guidance Journal, 1978, 57, 149-153.

Hallahan, D.P., & Kauffman, J.M. Introduction to learning disabilities: A psycho-behavioral ap-

proach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1976.

Hastorf, A., Schneider, D., & Polefka, J. Person perception. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1970.

Johnson, D.J., & Myklebust, H.R. Learning disabilities: Educational principles and practices. New York: Grune & Stratton, Inc., 1967.

Lerner, J.W. Learning disabilities: Theories, diagno- sis, and teaching strategies (3rd ed.). Dallas: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1981.

Maheady, L. The interpretation of social interactions by learning disabled, socially/emotionally disturbed, educable mentally retarded and nondisabled children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1981.

Maitland, G.E. The perception of facial and vocal expressions of emotions by learning disabled, emotionally disturbed, and normal children. Unpub- lished doctoral dissertation, University of Virginia, 1977.

Mehrabian, A. Nonverbal communication. Chicago: Aldin, 1972.

Minskoff, E.H. Teaching approach for developing nonverbal communication skills in students with social perception deficits: Part I. The basic approach and body language clues. Journal of Learn- ing Disabilities, 1980, 13, 118-124. (a)

Minskoff, E.H. Teaching approach for developing nonverbal communication skills in students with social perception deficits: Part II. Proxemics, vocalic, and artifactual cues. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1980, 13, 203-208. (b)

Morrison, R.L., & Bellack, A.S. The role of social perception in social skills. Behavior Therapy, in press.

Puckett, D. An investigation of nonverbal sensitivity of academically talented, average, and learning disabled male students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Memphis State University, 1980.

Rosenthal, R., Archer, D., Koivumaki, J.H., DiMatteo, M.R., & Rogers, P. Assessing sensitivity to nonverbal communication: The PONS test. Divi- sion 8 Newsletter (APA), January, 1974, 1-3.

Smith, H.A. Nonverbal communication in teaching. Review of Educational Research, 1979, 49, 631-672.

Thomas, C.H. An investigation of the sensitivity to nonverbal communication of learning disabled and normal children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Virginia, 1979.

Wallbrown, F.H., Fremont, T.S., Nelson, E., Wilson, J., & Fischer, J. Emotional disturbance or social misperception? An important classroom manage- ment question. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1979, 12, 645-648.

Wiig, E.H., & Harris, S.P. Perception and interpretation of nonverbally expressed emotions by




adolescents with learning disabilities. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1974, 38, 239-245.

Wiig, E.H., & Semel, E. Language disabilities in children and adolescents. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill, Co., 1976.

Requests for reprints should be addressed to: Larry Maheady, Department of Education, State University College at Fredonia, 2084 Thompson Hall, Fredonia, NY 14048.




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