Self-perceptions of first- and second-grade children with learning disabilities

The present study addressed the question of the effects of developmental positive bias and repeated experiences of failure on the self-perception of mainstreamed first-and second-grade Israeli children with learning disabilities. The self-perceptions of 44 children with learning disabilities and their 36 nondisabled classmates were assessed. In addition, teachers' evaluations and objective measures of cognitive performance and social acceptance were gathered. The children with learning disabilities were found to have a greater positive bias and lower self-perception in the cognitive competence domain than their normally achieving peers. Self-perceptions of peer acceptance among children with learning disabilities are similar to their normally achieving peers' self-perceptions, in spite of their significantly lower sociometric ratings and teacher evaluations in the social domain. These findings are analyzed in the context of the globality-specificity dimension of self-perceptions at the age level studied. The obtained pattern of self-perceptions is discussed in the light of the interrelationships between cognitive deficit and experimental factors among mainstreamed first- and second-grade children.