Relationships among young children's ideas, emotional understanding, and social contact with classmates with disabilities

This study examined relationships among children's ideas about helping othe rs, their understanding of emotions, their acceptance of individuals with d isabilities, and their social contact with classmates with disabilities. Pa rticipants were 45 children enrolled in preschool classes that included cla ssmates with disabilities. Children's ideas about helping, understanding of emotions, and acceptance of individuals with disabilities were elicited in interviews. Classroom observations were used to record the frequency of ch ildren's social contacts with classmates with disabilities. Results reveale d that children who had social contact with classmates with disabilities ha d significantly higher scores on measures of emotion understanding and acce ptance of individuals with disabilities than did children who had contact o nly with typically developing classmates.