Eighty children with disabilities enrolled in a nationally distributed set of inclusive preschool programs participated in this study. The average age of the participants was 3.9 years, and 60% were male. The children exhibited a range of disabilities and developmental levels. Using a mixed-method approach, the authors established quantitative criteria for identifying children with disabilities who were socially accepted and socially rejected by their peer group, and qualitative methods revealed themes associated with social participation of each group. Cluster analyses of themes identified 3 clusters associated with social acceptance (e.g., awareness-interest, communication-play, friendship-social skills) and 2 clusters associated with social rejection (e.g., social withdrawal, conflict-aggression). Subsequent cluster analyses of children and matrix analyses illustrated how child social participation was related to superordinate theme clusters and constructs of acceptance and rejection. Socially accepted children tended to have disabilities that were less likely to affect social problem solving and emotional regulation, whereas children who were socially rejected had disabilities that were more likely to affect such skills and developmental capacities. Implications of this research for theory and practice are proposed.

The purpose of this investigation was to describe the nature of preschool children's experiences in inclusive early childhood programs. The momentary time-sampling data reported in this article represented 3 hours of observational information per child for 112 preschoolers with and without disabilities in 16 community-based, inclusive preschool programs in four states. In general, children with and without disabilities exhibited similar child behaviors and were meaningfully engaged in a variety of adult- and child-initiated activities within similar activity contexts. Two noteworthy between-group differences were that (a) children without disabilities, compared to those with disabilities, participated in more child-child social behaviors and (b) children with disabilities received more adult support and attention than peers without disabilities. These ecobehavioral data begin to "paint a portrait" of preschool inclusion. This "portrait" revealed that children with disabilities were physically included but suggested that if social integration of young children with and without disabilities is a primary goal of inclusion, then additional, focused intervention efforts may be required to establish socially inclusive programs for young children with and without disabilities.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of participation in an integrated play group on the joint attention, symbolic play and language behavior of two young boys with autism. Two 6-year-old twin brothers participated in this study, along with three typically developing girls, ages 5, 9 and 11. A multiple baseline design was used with three phases: no intervention, intervention with adult coaching, and intervention without adult coaching. After being trained, the three typically developing children implemented the integrated play group techniques in 30 minute weekly play group sessions for over 16 weeks. Results indicate that participation in the integrated play group produced dramatic increases in shared attention to objects, symbolic play acts, and verbal utterances on the part of the participants with autism. These increases were maintained when adult support was withdrawn. Implications of these findings for inclusion of children with autism are discussed.

Mixed-method designs increasingly are being used to investigate multi-faceted educational phenomena, but many conceptual and practical challenges remain in combining qualitative and quantitative methods. This paper addresses the conceptual issues by illustrating how 2 analytic approaches were used for different mixed-method purposes in the study of preschool inclusion.

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