Recognition of Emotions in Children with Learning Disabilities

This study aimed to investigate recognition of emotions via (facial expressions, posture/gestures, voice and social stories) in children with learning disabilities comparing to their peers with typical development. The participants were 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th graders consisting 120 children in total. Sixty of these were children with learning disabilities and 60 were children with typical development. Data were gathered by using the Test of Perception of Affect Via Nonverbal Cues (TPANC) developed by the researchers. Childeren were asked to name emotions including (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, amazement, and disgust) in the test. Results showed that children with learning disabilities performed significantly lower and slower in naming emotions than their peers. Happiness in facial expressions and social stories subtests was received the highest number of correct answers by all children. Fear in facial expressions was often confused with amazement. While anger was recognized most easily via voice, fear was recognized most easily via gesture/posture. The results are discussed further on the basis of previous findings and recommendations are presented.