Researchers seek to understand how preschool children form evaluative judgments of others. This project focuses on a piece of this puzzle – young children’s ideas about and interactions with age-mates with disabilities. Understanding how and why children make judgments about including or excluding a peer with a disability and the factors that influence their decisions is the first goal of this project. A second goal is to explore relations between young children’s ideas about exclusion/inclusion and social participation with classmates who have disabilities. There is some evidence that experiences in inclusive settings may be related to children’s positive attitudes and prosocial behaviors. We do not know, however, whether a child’s initial dispositions make interactions with classmates with disabilities more likely, or whether children’s interactions promote increased understanding and sensitivity. Finally, strategies that teachers use to support inclusion and that parents use to encourage children’s participation with peers with disabilities have the potential to influence children’s attitudes. Similarly, parents may influence children’s ideas about people with disabilities when they talk about the ways in which their child is similar to a peer with a disability (Innes & Diamond, 1999) or model interaction with children with disabilities (Okagaki, Diamond, Kontos, & Hestenes, 1998.) Understanding how specific teacher and parent beliefs and behaviors contribute to children’s social judgments and interactions with classmates with disabilities is a third goal of this research project.

Both undergraduate and graduate students have participated as research assistants on this project.

Recent presentations and publication include (student names are denoted by *):

Diamond, K.E., & *Huang, H. (in press). Preschoolers’ ideas about disabilities. Infants and Young Children.

Diamond, K., *Tu, H., *Huang, H., & *Putnam, J. (2003, April). Preschool children’s justifications for inclusion and exclusion on the basis of physical ability. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa , FL.

Diamond, K.E. & *Kensinger, K. (2002). Vignettes from Sesame Street: Preschooler’s ideas about children with Down syndrome and physical disability. Early Education and Development, 13, 409-421.

Diamond, K., *Fogo, J., & *Huang, H. (2002, February). Understanding experiences of typically developing preschoolers in inclusive classrooms. Paper presented at the Conference on Research Innovations in Early Intervention, San Diego , CA .

Diamond, K.E., *Kensinger, K., *Hammond, K., & *Fogo, J. (2001, April). Preschool children’s justifications for inclusion and exclusion on the basis of gender and physical ability. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis , MN .

Diamond, K.E. & *Carpenter, E. (2000). The influence of inclusive preschool programs on children’s sensitivity to the needs of others. Journal of Early Intervention, 23, 81-91.

Diamond, K.E., *Fogo, J., *Kensinger, K.R., & *Hammond, K. (2000, December). Early childhood teachers’ practices that support inclusion. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Division for Early Childhood, Albuquerque , N.M.

Diamond, K.E., & *Innes, F. (2000, April). Understanding typically developing children’s experiences in inclusive classrooms: Methodological issues. Poster presented at the Biennial Conference on Research Innovations in Early Intervention, San Diego .

*Innes, F. & Diamond, K.E. (1999). Typically developing children’s interactions with peers with disabilities: Relationships between mothers’ comments and children’s ideas about disabilities. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 19, 103-111.

Diamond, K.E., *Kensinger, K., & *Graff, J. (1999, April). Stories from Sesame Street: Preschool children’s understanding of physical disabilities and Down syndrome. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Albuquerque, NM.

Okagaki, L., Diamond, K.E., Kontos, S. & *Hestenes, L. (1998). Correlates of young children’s interactions with classmates with disabilities. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13, 67-86.

Diamond, K.E., *Bandyk, J., *Giorgetti, K., *Dingel, A., & *Vaystikh, I. (1997, April). Relationships between preschool children’s prosocial skills and their interactions with classmates with disabilities. Presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Washington, D.C.

Diamond, K.E., *Giorgetti, K., & *Bandyk, J. (1997, April). Correlates of change in preschool children’s interactions with classmates with disabilities. Presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Washington, D.C.

Funding: Hatch (USDA)

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