Peer interactions in inclusive day care centers—the type of play activity matters

Abstract Early peer interactions impact children’s social-emotional and academic development. Studies show that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are at considerable risk of being less involved in peer interactions. Play activities represent a variable that has been little studied to date and can affect peer interactions of children with and without SEND significantly. For this reason, this study investigated whether and to what extent interactions between children with and without SEND differ in the non-experimental setting of inclusive daycare centers and how this is affected by play activities. This was investigated using questionnaire and video data during free play with 75 children, 27 of whom had SEND. Consistent with previous studies, we found that children with SEND tended to be less involved in peer interactions and were significantly more involved in interactions with teachers than children without SEND. In contrast to previous studies from experimental settings that categorized activities such as painting, doing handcrafts or puzzling as isolate , interactions of children with SEND occurred most frequently and significantly more frequently when painting, doing handcrafts or puzzling than of children without SEND. Consistent with a small study, children with SEND played in such “isolate” contexts at a significantly higher rate with children with SEND than with children without SEND compared to play activities categorized as social. Children without SEND chose their interaction partners, with or without SEND, regardless of the play activity. We conclude that these “isolate” play activities should be reconsidered as potential opportunities for interactions of children with SEND.