Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Friendships Of Children With Disabilities In The Home Environment, Cheryl Geisthardt, Mary Jane Brotherson, Christine Cook

Christine C. Cook

Friendships are a valued aspect of life. Understanding the family and home aspects of friendships can help special educators to develop a broader understanding of issues supporting friendships for young children with disabilities. In this exploratory study, family interviews and home observations were used to examine friendships of children with disabilities (3 to 10 years old) at home. Results suggest many children with disabilities spend limited time with friends or peers in the home environment. In this sample, children with the greatest amount of contact with friends had disabilities that were mainly physical in nature, while children with behavior problems …