Comparison of 20 socially accepted and 20 socially rejected intermediate grade students with mental retardation in regular class settings found accepted children displayed a higher level of social behavior and a lower level of sensitive-isolated behavior. Accepted children chose friendly-submissive (rather than friendly-assertive) goals and a low…

This study, based on observation of 28 children with autism in an integrated preschool, explored whether differing levels of autistic behavior were associated with the presence of nondisabled children or with the presence of other children with autism. Results indicated significantly decreased levels of autistic behavior corresponding to the close…

Two children with autism, aged 10, were exposed to peer-implemented pivotal response training (PRT). Typical peers implemented PRT strategies by modeling, role playing, and didactic instruction. Both children with autism maintained prolonged interactions with the peer, initiated play and conversations, and increased engagement in language and…

This paper discusses what teacher education programs can do to prepare teachers for diverse classrooms. One approach is through cooperative learning, since children come to school with various orientations to cooperative behavior. Many teachers, however, jump into cooperative activities with little thought of the behaviors needed by students to…

Two children (ages seven and eight) with autism and moderate mental retardation, who engaged in stereotypic behavior, were studied to investigate the effects of social interaction with peers. Results found that when peers made social initiations and the children engaged in social interaction, collateral decreases occurred in their stereotypic…

This paper reviews published observational research that has addressed the impact of race and sex on student peer interactions and describes two studies that focused on the classroom behaviors of black and white sixth grade boys and girls. The studies were conducted in an urban middle school in the northeastern United States, a school that had…

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…

The relative importance of factors such as student characteristics, prior contact with the other race, opportunity for contact in the present situation, and conditions of inter-racial contact are examined in order to determine how they predict the social outcomes of inter-racial contact in high schools. Multiple regression analyses are performed…