Promoting social integration of young children at risk of learning disabilities

Abstract. The Integrated Preschool Curriculum (IPC), designed to facilitate the social integration of young children at risk for learning disabilities into mainstreamed and integrated special education classes, was compared with a standard early childhood education model curriculum. Social interaction data dur-ing play are reported for four integrated and two nonintegrated special education classes. Children in the IPC classes were found to exhibit significantly greater pro-portions of interactive and proximity play, while those in the contrast classes engaged in significantly greater proportions of Isolate play. In the integrated classes implementing the IPC, a significantly greater proportion of the nonhan-dicapped children's interactive play involved handicapped children, as compared to the integrated classes employing the contrast curriculum. Similarly, in the IPC classes handicapped children played with their nonhandicapped peers more often. These data indicate that the IPC successfully promoted social interaction between handicapped and nonhandicapped students in integrated special education classes. Many learning disabled children experience difficulty in establishing positive peer relations and often exhibit deficient social behavior toward peers. On sociometric assessments they are rated lower than their non-learning disable