Relationships Among Young Children's Ideas, Emotional Understanding, and Social Contact with Classmates with Disabilities

This study examined relationships among children's ideas about helping others, their understanding of emotions, their acceptance of individuals with disabilities, and their social contact with classmates with disabilities. Participants were 45 children enrolled in preschool classes that included classmates with disabilities. Children's ideas about helping, understanding of emotions, and acceptance of individuals with disabilities were elicited in interviews. Classroom observations were used to record the frequency of children's social contacts with classmates with disabilities. Results revealed that children who had social contact with classmates with disabilities had significantly higher scores on measures of emotion understanding and acceptance of individuals with disabilities than did children who had contact only with typically developing classmates.