Curriculum to promote positive interactions of preschoolers with a disabled peer introduced into the classroom

This study explored the effect of an educational program for typically developing preschoolers in order to encourage their social interactions with a disabled peer who was to be introduced into the classroom. Two groups of four‐year‐old children were each observed and videotaped for forty minutes and their social interactions with each other recorded. One group (n=12) was then randomly assigned to receive an educational program. The control group (n=12) received a placebo program from the adult visitor. A preschooler with disabilities was then introduced into the classroom where both groups of children attended afternoon sessions together. During two hours of small group work and free play, social interactions were again recorded via videotape and coded for positive and negative interactions with the atypical child. Children who had received the educational program made 14 positive social interactions with the visiting child compared to 2 made by control youngsters (P<.05). There was a trend (P<.10) toward a greater number of individual children in the educational group making a social bid to the disabled peer (n=7) compared with controls (n=2). Providing information and opportunities for young children to become familiar with concepts concerning disabilities can facilitate subsequent social interactions with a disabled peer.