Social Interactions Among Preschool Children.

To obtain information on the potential benefits of integration, this study investigated the nature and extent of social interactions among preschool children at different developmental levels. Communicative and parallel play interactions of mildly, moderately, severely, and nonhandicapped children were observed during free play across two time periods. The results revealed that (a) nonhandicapped and mildly handicapped children interacted with each other more frequently than expected on the basis of availability, and they interacted with moderately and severely handicapped children less frequently than expected; (b) moderately and severely handicapped children interacted with all four developmental groups as expected by the criterion of availability; and (c) whenever this pattern of interaction changed over time, it was typically in the direction of enhancing the differences noted in the first statement. These findings are discussed in terms of the potential value of integrated programs for children of varying developmental levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]