Behavioral disturbance in mentally retarded children in TMR and EMR classrooms.

The frequency with which disruptive behavior actually takes place in ongoing classroom settings was examined. Disruptive behavior of 646 subjects in TMR and EMR classrooms was observed over a 4-day period. Although mean disruptive behavior occurred at relatively low levels, considerable variability was evident with some differences observed in the nature of disruptive behavior between TMR and EMR subjects. This variability was further examined within a subsample of "high" and "low" disrupters.