Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills of Students With Specific Learning Disabilities: A Replication, Extension, and Synthesis of Existing Research

Abstract

Social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills have been found to predict academic and non-academic outcomes; however, students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) may show weaker SEB profiles and SEB may not translate into better grades for this population of students. In 5,075 high school students, including 243 reporting an SLD diagnosis, we compared social engagement, self-management, innovation, emotional resilience, and cooperation skills, examined multiple self-regulated learning factors, and tested SEB-by-group interactions for grades, life satisfaction, and self-regulated learning. Students with SLD scored lower in self-management (β = −0.32), innovation (β = −0.39), social engagement (β = −0.27), and cooperation (β = −0.32). Furthermore, we meta-analyzed these findings with previous data to update the literature. Finally, descriptive analyses suggested that higher SEB skills, especially self-management, may translate less strongly into higher grades in the SLD group compared to students without SLD. Overall, students with SLDs showed a poorer profile of SEB skills.