Peer Acceptance

Peer acceptance of those with intellectual and developmental disorders (ID/DD) is a topic that has received a great deal of attention in the literature. Spurred by educational policies emphasizing inclusion, the practice of accommodating diverse learners within general education classrooms alongside their typically developing (TD) peers, research has investigated resultant impacts on the social participation of those with ID/DD. This paradigmatic shift from segregation to inclusion is guided by the ideology that such an environment will be mutually beneficial to the social-emotional development of all learners, giving both TD students and those with disabilities valuable opportunities to interact and learn from one another. Although TD children who are educated in inclusive classrooms have been found to be more accepting of those with ID/DD than are ...