ACCEPTABILITY AND FEASIBILITY OF CLASSROOM-BASED SOCIAL-INTERACTION INTERVENTIONS FOR YOUNG-CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

The purpose of this study was to assess teachers' judgments of the acc eptability, feasibility, and current use of child specific, peer-media ted, and environmental arrangement intervention strategies for promoti ng social interaction skills of young children with disabilities. One hundred thirty-one teachers from five geographical areas participated in this study. Using the Social Interaction Program Features Questionn aire, these teachers reported that a high percentage of their students needed to acquire peer social interaction skills and that there was a moderate to great need for curricular or instructional materials. The overall mean ratings for the three types of intervention strategies w ere generally positive and did not differ significantly, suggesting th at teachers found all three types of interventions acceptable and feas ible. However, the range of item ratings for specific techniques withi n the broader classes of interventions suggested that certain procedur es were relatively more or less acceptable and feasible than others. B arriers to implementing the program included limited teacher time, res ources available to teachers (i.e., space, staff, materials), and acce ss to peers without disabilities. Teacher ratings of feasibility were related more closely to current use of procedures than were ratings of acceptability.