Connecting with Others: Teaching Social and Emotional Competence

The purpose of this study was to investigate if a social skills program, Connecting with Others: Lessons for Teaching Social and Emotional Competence, would enable students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms to develop skills to facilitate socialization with peers with and without disabilities. Students' growth in terms of social skills was measured in terms of teacher perceptions of change of targeted social skills from pre-program to post-program. The results of the study indicate reasonable assurance that the students did grow in the skill areas and were able to interact positively with their peers.