INCLUSION OF PRESCHOOLERS WITH PROFOUND DISABILITIES - AN ANALYSIS OFCHILDRENS INTERACTIONS

The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of spontaneous pee r interactions in a full-inclusion preschool. Three children with prof ound disabilities were observed for a total of 480 min each in indoor and outdoor supervised play. Three children without disabilities were observed under the same conditions for comparison purposes. Results of the study showed variation in the behavior of the children with disab ilities, but also showed that the children with disabilities had many opportunities to participate in peer social interactions and engaged i n interactions comparable in length to those of their peers without di sabilities. Findings also indicate that particular attention may need to be paid to the encouragement of initiating interactions and to help ing young children without disabilities understand and respond to the idiosyncratic behaviors of peers with profound disabilities.