Understanding Impulsivity Among Children With Specific Learning Disabilities in Inclusion Schools

Abstract

Impulsive behavior is a characteristic of children with specific learning disabilities (SLD), and is related to learning ability. The present study aims to identify impulsivity behavior in children with SLD who attend inclusion schools, from their resource room teachers' perspectives. A 31-item questionnaire that addressed four subscales was designed, and the study sample consisted of 103 resource room teachers of children with SLD from various inclusion schools in Al-Zarqa city in Jordan. The results revealed that the main problem was related to lack of premeditation, followed by lack of perseverance and urgency. The results also indicated that there were statistically significant differences only for the Lack of Perseverance subscale, with regard to level of disability, whereas there were no differences attributed to teacher gender, child gender, and age. Based on these findings, implications and recommendations are discussed.

Effects of Mindfulness Training Program on the Impulsivity Among Students with Learning Disabilities

“…Impulsive behaviors are known as a broad concept which has different meanings, such as acting before thinking, poor planning, and giving into cravings (Kirby & Finch, 2010), an inability to delay gratification, and poor motivation control (Sariyska et al, 2017), poor judgment and consequences, and low levels of patience (Salaria & Singh, 2015). Also, children with impulsive behavior make decisions and choose solutions quickly without thinking about the consequences (Al-Dababneh & Al-Zboon, 2018). Many researchers have linked this impulsivity to risk, poor planning, and quick decision-making (Barahmand et al, 2015).…”

“…Impulsivity may also be known as a natural personality (Salaria & Singh, 2015). However, high levels of impulsivity relate to many behavioral difficulties in childhood such as aggression, peer relationship problems, and disruptive behavior (Barahmand et al, 2015), attention deficit issues, flawed thinking, risky actions, and addiction (Crews & Boettiger, 2009;De Wit, 2009), and making decisions without considering the consequences, and weakness in problem-solving (Al-Dababneh & Al-Zboon, 2018;Nkrumah et al, 2015).…”

“…The results of the study also indicated that children with learning difficulties have high levels of impulsivity and lack of premeditation, and lack of excitement and urgency or lack of perseverance. Also, other studies were completed related to impulsive behavior among SLD children, and indicated they have impairment in motor control, violation of social time rules, distraction inhibition (Al-Dababneh & Al-Zboon, 2018;Donfrancesco et al, 2005), and poor organization (Weed et al, 2011).…”

Educational diagnostic label and teacher self-efficacy: Impact on classroom intervention choice.

“…Behavioral difficulties displayed by children with SLD can limit the effectiveness of evidence-based AIs (McKenna et al, 2015). The most effective interventions account for the function of problem behaviors (i.e., disruptive behaviors displayed to avoid independent seatwork), which for many students with SLD is escaping the challenging academic task (Al-Dababneh & Al-Zboon, 2018). Given that behavior analytic strategies consider the function of a student's behaviors, BIs may be needed to help students with SLD, but there is limited research and emphasis on the combination of BIs and AIs.…”

Curriculum implemented for students with specific learning disabilities in Jordanian resource rooms

“…Students with specific learning difficulties (SLD) experience many problems that affect their school performance, among them attention problems (Shaywitz et al, 1992), memory problems (Smith, 2004), an impulsive cognitive style (Al-Dababneh & Al-Zboon, 2017) and problems processing sensory information (Kemp et al, 2009). Students with SLD may also have metacognitive domain problems when it comes to the active control and monitoring of learning strategies (Bender, 2008).…”