Peer Rejection is a Stubborn Thing: Increasing Peer Acceptance of Rejected Students with Learning Disabilities

The efficacy of a contextualist training model for increasing the peer acceptance of peer rejected learning disabled students is evaluated. Ten peer rejected students, 7 male and 3 female in grades three through six, who were learning disabled were selected to participate in the 20 week intervention. Results indicate that significant increases in positive nominations occurred for males across pre and post measures and maintained at a 6 month follow-up measure. Five of the 10 subjects received classifications other than rejected at the postintervention measure. The components of the model are presented as well as results of subject interviews, reciprocal nominations, and peer pairing ratings. Discussion focuses on the characteristics of students whose peer acceptance is likely to increase with this model, as well as suggestions for increasing the model's effectiveness for future intervention research.