Background: A peer-led self-advocacy group, Our Voice SA, is used as a case study to explore how the social engagement of people with intellectual disability contributed to their self-advocacy about things that are important to them. Method: Secondary analyses of data (interviews, observations and program data) were thematically analysed using…

This paper describes two alternative strategies for fostering communication skills in preschool children with disabilities: one that teaches normally developing peers to use specific communication strategies when interacting with their less skilled classmates and one that teaches both normal and disabled preschoolers to enact sociodramatic play…

This paper describes the Early Childhood Social Skills Program developed at the University of Pittsburgh's Early Childhood Research Institute. The paper discusses specific social skill strategies as well as steps for implementing the peer-mediated social skill program in an integrated preschool setting. (JDD)

Three seven-year-old males with autism included in social skills groups with nonhandicapped peers were successfully trained in such social skills as initiating, responding, keeping interactions going, greeting, conversing, giving and accepting compliments, taking turns and sharing, asking for help and helping others, and including others in…

This paper addresses an important topic--the isolation and or lack of inclusion of immigrant children in U.S. schools. Immigrant children constantly pour into U.S. schools and, especially as newcomers, their opportunities for authentic interaction with mainstream peers are limited. How can schools provide authentic language opportunities for…

A step-by-step guide is presented for developing and implementing a social interaction intervention based on a study of an inclusive preschool program. Steps include developing a data collection system, selecting observation time, collecting baseline data, identifying target children, developing social interaction skills intervention, monitoring…

This project conducted a series of 11 studies over a period of 3 years to investigate the social skill competence of approximately 200 upper elementary and middle school children with serious emotional disturbances. The project identified a set of social tasks which proved critical in discriminating between socially competent and incompetent…

The Southern Child Care Support Program was established in 1986 to help children with disabilities gain access to child care services. The program consists of a team of four Integration Support Workers who are able to provide support in 27 child care centers in the region of Adelaide, Australia. The program's model of child care focuses on three…

This practicum aimed to decrease the social isolation of preschool children with special needs in a mainstreamed day care setting by: (1) increasing initiatives by typical children towards four special needs children; (2) increasing social bids or responses by special needs children toward typical children; and (3) increasing positive…

This survey found that regular education teachers (n=312) felt that friendships between students with and without disabilities are possible, should be facilitated by adults, and are beneficial to all students. The survey also identified educational settings in which friendship, functional life skill, and academic skill development were most likely…

This report describes a practicum that was designed to improve the social skills of eight preschool children with autism or Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), through interactions with their typically developing peers. The children were taught in a classroom with eight typically developing children using a regular…

This literature review considers research dealing with social skills instruction for handicapped preschool children in a mainstreamed or integrated setting. It offers a literature-based rationale for preschool mainstreaming, notes the fundamental objectives of preschool mainstreaming that relate to the process of socialization, and addresses the…

A peer intervention program to improve communicative interaction and social integration of preschoolers with moderate developmental disabilities is described. Children without disabilities are taught facilitative strategies which are not particularly intrusive and do not obligate responses by the disabled child. The facilitative strategies…

Evaluation of integrated versus segregated schooling of 91 children with severe developmental disabilities found that integrated children spent less time with therapists, equal time with special education teachers, more time with other children, and less time alone. No differences were found on developmental skills; however, integrated children…

This practicum project was designed to improve communication in the kindergarten classroom between regular students and a mainstreamed nonverbal child with cerebral palsy. A target group of 24 pre-kindergartners was exposed to 12 weeks of the intervention which included such strategies as teaching the verbal students how to identify communication…