Effect of attribution style in disabled children's learning and teacher-child interaction

Attribution is defined as people’s perception of the causes of the events that happen to themselves or others. The literature highlights that pupils with Specific Learning Disability (SLD) often reveal a poor meta-cognitive system, with low levels of attribution to internal factors like diligence and personal skills, and high levels of attribution to external factors like ease of task, luck or help from others. This study aims to analyze the attributions expressed in the school context by pupils diagnosed with Specific Learning Disability (N=38; Age in months: Mean=100.24; SD=5.828) and to compare them with those by children without learning disabilities (N=70; 38 of them with the same academic achievements as the pupils with SLD, and 32 with opposite achievement levels). The pupils attend Years 2 and 3 at primary schools in northwest Italy. Attributive style was assessed using the Attribution Test 4-10 years (De Beni et al., 1998). The different attributive tendencies were also evaluated in the light of the results obtained in nationally validated learning tests. Finally, it was verified whether the teacher's perception of the relationship with each pupil can be influenced not only by the presence of the disability itself, but also by the children's attributive style.