Disciplinary Exclusion and Students With Disabilities: The Mediating Role of Social Skills

In this study, the authors investigated the role of social skills in disciplinary exclusion by examining parent and teacher ratings of students as having either high or low social skills. Data were drawn from 1,438 students from the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study. Findings indicated that social skills mediated disciplinary inclusion for students with the following characteristics: males, African Americans, students identified with emotional and behavioral disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and students from low-income backgrounds. Moreover, students with high social skills were subject to disciplinary exclusion less often than peers with lower social skills. More research regarding the relationship of social skills to disciplinary exclusion is warranted due to the positive effects of high social skills.