Sensitivity to Nonverbal Communication in Adults with Learning Disabilities at the University and Rehabilitation Settings

This study comparedthe sensitivity to nonverbal communicationofadults with learningdisabilities attending a large state university (13 females, 26 males) to those participating in training programs at a rehabilitation setting (8 females, 18 males). A secondary purpose of the study was to compare the performance ofthese two groups of adults demonstrating specific learning disabilities to 39 normally achieving college students. The mean age of all subjects was between 19-23 years. The Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity (PONS) wasused as a measureofnonverbal sensitivity. ThePONS provides four types ofscores which include: total, pure, isolated features, and personality. Findings from this research indicated there were significant group differences between all three groups on the total score. The rehabilitation group performed the lowest. It appears that both populations of adults with learning disabilities hadthe mostdifficulty processing pure auditory nonverbal information. Mixedresults were found among the groups on the isolated feature scores. The findings from this research also demonstrated that adults with learning disabilities were much more highly sensitive to negative dominant communication. Implications from the results ofthe study for the assessmentandintervention of social skills with adults with learning disabilities are reviewed.