This study focuses on a close examination of how children express themselves at ECEC in play situations, which form an integral and large part of a typical day. The main research question has been: How can children's social and emotional expressions be understood through analyses of communication and interaction during free play? A qualitative…

Research Findings: In this examination of associations between sibling interaction patterns and later social outcomes in single- and 2-parent families, 113 kindergarteners took part in naturalistic observations at home with siblings, classmates participated in sociometric interviews, and teachers completed behavior ratings. Sibling interactions…

This study tested assumptions and conclusions reached in an earlier confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) study of the social competence (SC) construct for preschool children. Two samples (total N = 408; a new Portuguese sample and one from US samples that had participated in the original study) contributed data. Seven SC indicators were tested for…

This article is based on a qualitative longitudinal study of children's changing peer relationships through childhood, with particular emphasis on experiences of disabled children. Initial observation of face-to-face-encounters among children in school made us aware of social inclusion and exclusion mechanisms relating to informal interaction…

The present project studied the relationship between the use of developmentally appropriate practices and children's perception of self-competence in Head Start classrooms. Self-competence is defined as children's confidence in succeeding in certain tasks. Developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) as proposed by the National Association for the…

A model for integrating severely handicapped children and youth is composed of five major components: (1) general integration (in which a needs assessment determines such aspects as visibility of the classroom, interaction with regular classroom staff, and school-home communication); (2) active integration (in which educational and social…

The manual describes the Special Friends Program, an approach to prepare handicapped and nonhandicapped children for social interactions with one another. The program emphasizes social, play, and leisure interchanges that facilitate social skill development by both severely handicapped and nonhandicapped children. Following a review of the…

Research tells us that children with developmental disabilities and delays have reduced social interaction and reduced social acceptance by other children in comparison with their same-aged peers within early childhood settings. The consequence of this is that these children have limited access to the possible developmental opportunities within…

Social skills training with a 12-year-old mainstreamed trainable mentally handicapped student resulted in improved eye contact, greeting of peers, and use of appropriate voice level. Perceptions of peers changed, but their interaction with the student did not change. (Author/DB)