Classroom Behaviour of Intellectually Handicapped Children and their Teachers

The classroom behaviour of 16 intellectually handicapped children from four special school classrooms was classified in terms of content and appropriateness (according to teachers' demands), and the teachers' responses to the children's behaviour were observed. The children showed high levels of appropriate behaviour, although the teachers' interaction with the children was relatively infrequent. The results were discussed in terms of the desirability of incorporating data on programme content in conjunction with pupil characteristics in subsequent evaluations of special educational provisions for intellectually handicapped children.