Perceptual and Moior Skills, 1979,48, 105-106. @ Perceptual and Motor Skills 1979
HYPERACTIVITY A N D RELATED BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS I N A SAMPLE OF LEARNING DISABLED CHILDREN1 KENNETH OTTENBACHER University of Central Arkansa~ Sirmlnary.44 learning disabled and 12 minimal brain-damaged children were evaluated by their teachers on 11 categories of behavior. Analysis showed that behavioral characteristics associated with hyperaccivity did not differentiate among subjccs. Teachers rated poor motor coordination as the outstanding rrait of this sample.
Controversy about distinction or relationship between learning disability and hyperactivity continues (Ross & Ross, 1976; Cantwell, 1975). Empirical research is needed to establish behavioral definitions for the terms hyperactivity and learning disorder (Ross, 1977). Recently the Hyperactivity Rating Scale has been developed as a measure of 11 behaviorally defined categories of response from children kindergarten thtough Grade 4 (Spring, Blunden, Greenberg, & Yellin, 1977). Normative data and validity have been described Spring, Blunden, Greenberg, & Yellin, 1977; Blunden, Spring, & Greenberg, 1974). The investigation was designed to identify the behavioral characteristics of a sample of learning disabled children and to determine the prevalence of hyperactive behaviors. Subjects were 58 male and 18 female Caucasian children between 58 and 118 mo. of age ( M = 81 mo., SD, 18.2). All subjects had educational and medical diagnoses of learning disability ( n = 6 4 ) or minimal brain dysfunction (la = 12). All subjects were without overt mental or physical handicaps as far as could be determined from psychological and school records. Each subject's teacher rated the child on 11 categories of behavior following instructions in the manual. The categories of behavior included: ( 1 ) Restlessness, ( 2 ) Disuactability, ( 3 ) Work Fluct~~ation,( 4 ) Impulsivity, ( 5 ) Excitability, ( 6 ) Low Perseverance, ( 7 ) Negativism, ( 8 ) Poor Coordination, ( 9 ) Fatigue, ( 1 0 ) Rapid Tempo, and ( 11) Social Withdrawal. These behavioral cacegories have been defined elsewhere (Spring, Blunden, Greenberg, & Yellin, 1977). Ratings were converted to z scores. The percent of subjects with z scores .05) was computed for each behavioral category. The greater than 1.96 ( f results appear in Fig. 1, where it may be noted that the first five behavioral cacegories are regarded as the most closely related to hyperactivity (Spring, Blunden, Greenberg, & Yellin, 1977). Fig. 1 shows that these behavioral categories did not differentiate the learning disabled children in this sample. The
HYPERACTIVITY A N D RELATED BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS I N A SAMPLE OF LEARNING DISABLED CHILDREN1 KENNETH OTTENBACHER University of Central Arkansa~ Sirmlnary.44 learning disabled and 12 minimal brain-damaged children were evaluated by their teachers on 11 categories of behavior. Analysis showed that behavioral characteristics associated with hyperaccivity did not differentiate among subjccs. Teachers rated poor motor coordination as the outstanding rrait of this sample.
Controversy about distinction or relationship between learning disability and hyperactivity continues (Ross & Ross, 1976; Cantwell, 1975). Empirical research is needed to establish behavioral definitions for the terms hyperactivity and learning disorder (Ross, 1977). Recently the Hyperactivity Rating Scale has been developed as a measure of 11 behaviorally defined categories of response from children kindergarten thtough Grade 4 (Spring, Blunden, Greenberg, & Yellin, 1977). Normative data and validity have been described Spring, Blunden, Greenberg, & Yellin, 1977; Blunden, Spring, & Greenberg, 1974). The investigation was designed to identify the behavioral characteristics of a sample of learning disabled children and to determine the prevalence of hyperactive behaviors. Subjects were 58 male and 18 female Caucasian children between 58 and 118 mo. of age ( M = 81 mo., SD, 18.2). All subjects had educational and medical diagnoses of learning disability ( n = 6 4 ) or minimal brain dysfunction (la = 12). All subjects were without overt mental or physical handicaps as far as could be determined from psychological and school records. Each subject's teacher rated the child on 11 categories of behavior following instructions in the manual. The categories of behavior included: ( 1 ) Restlessness, ( 2 ) Disuactability, ( 3 ) Work Fluct~~ation,( 4 ) Impulsivity, ( 5 ) Excitability, ( 6 ) Low Perseverance, ( 7 ) Negativism, ( 8 ) Poor Coordination, ( 9 ) Fatigue, ( 1 0 ) Rapid Tempo, and ( 11) Social Withdrawal. These behavioral cacegories have been defined elsewhere (Spring, Blunden, Greenberg, & Yellin, 1977). Ratings were converted to z scores. The percent of subjects with z scores .05) was computed for each behavioral category. The greater than 1.96 ( f results appear in Fig. 1, where it may be noted that the first five behavioral cacegories are regarded as the most closely related to hyperactivity (Spring, Blunden, Greenberg, & Yellin, 1977). Fig. 1 shows that these behavioral categories did not differentiate the learning disabled children in this sample. The
