Abstract:
This study was designed to identify predictors of behavioural disorders in children with learning disabilities and children without learning disabilities in the United Arab Emirates public school system. It examined the relative contributions of child characteristic (i.e. presence of learning disability, gender, age), parents' socio-demographics and aspects of classroom environment (e.g. social support received from teachers, peers and friends, meaningful and genuine relationships with classmates, teachers help in academic matters and use of educational resources, and cooperative learning, in addition to students satisfaction with the physical environment) to behavioural disorders such as internalising and externalising problems, and mixed syndromes, mainly anxious-depressed, withdrawn-depressed, somatic complaints, social problems, thought problems, attention problems, rule breaking behaviour and aggressive behaviour. The participants were 200 students from both sexes who ranged in age from 12 to 18 years. Structured interviews were carried out with students at schools. Practical implications to special education at the identification prevention and intervention level were discussed.