Effectiveness of a Brief Intervention on Latino Children's Social Acceptance of Peers with Special Needs

Limited research has been conducted on effective school interventions that facilitate acceptance and promote friendships among typically developing peers and children with special needs. Moreover, less has been written about Latino/a children's friendships and attitudes toward peers with disabilities. We report here a multi-method study about the impact of a brief readaloud intervention on Latino/a children's attitudes and intentions to befriend peers with special needs. Data are presented for 78 Latino/a children recruited from seven 3rd and 4th grade classrooms at one urban elementary school in the Southwest. The effects of the intervention reached statistical significance and revealed a large effect size (ES = .82). Additionally, quantitative and qualitative findings support the hypothesis that, when compared with boys, Latina girls were more favorable toward children with disabilities before and after the intervention. Implications and recommendations for practice and future research are discussed.