The features of friendship and behavioral tendencies of children with developmental difficulties

-An analysis of a friendship-scale, WISC-III, and CBCL-

Abstract

This study investigated the features of friendship-recognition of children with developmental difficulties, including High-functioning autism, ADHD. Twenty eight children and their mothers participating a psychotherapeutic small group program for children with developmental difficulties at the center in an university were requested to score the Friendship-Scale for Children with Developmental Difficulties. This score was analyzed in terms of relation to the scores of Child Behavior Checklist and WISC-Ⅲ, and of the difference of recognition between children and mothers. Factor Analysis revealed that children's recognition of friendship could be explained by three kinds of factors, those are "mutual acceptance", "cooperative activity", and "conversation". Differences of recognition between children and mothers were found that children could conceive the situation of own friendship more realistically than mothers. Although children's friendship recognition was completely different depending on the scores of CBCL, no differences were found depending on the score of WISC-Ⅲ. The necessity of individualized supporting program for children with developmental difficulties, which can access to the features of difficulties of each child, were discussed.