Factors influencing the social status of children with mild academic disabilities in regular classrooms.

This article discusses the development and evaluation of a model of social status which has implications for students both with and without mild academic disabilities in integrated classrooms. Behavioral data relating to peer social status were collected from peers, teachers, and independent observers for 97 students with disabilities and 97 without disabilities from the same regular elementary school classes. Path analysis indicated that teachers' attitudes toward integration were not related to the social status of the students with disabilities. However, teacher perceptions of academic behavior, peer perceptions of academic behavior, and peer perceptions of disruptive behavior were found to be related to social status for both groups of students.