Article

PURPOSE: To explore the association between participation and social competence
for preschool aged children with and without disabilities.
METHODS: The sample
was drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n = 4983) which
included children aged 4-5 years reported to have hearing problems (n = 164),
vision problems (n = 146) and other physical disabilities (n = 114). Chi-square,
correlation and logistic regression analyses were used to describe the
participation and social competence of children with and without these
conditions, as well as examine the association between these constructs. RESULTS:
Children with disabilities had similar levels of participation but lower social
competence than children without these disabilities. Further analyses revealed a
small negative correlation between the two variables (ranging from -0.120 to
-0.300 for the three groups) and that children who have low participation are
more likely to have abnormal levels of social competence than children with
higher participation. CONCLUSIONS: The association between participation and
social competence may not be as strong for this age group as anticipated in the
literature, additional factors may be influential. Examination of the social
competence scores identified two factors which may assist in explaining the
variance in scores: (1) the experience of disability and (2) the quality of
interactions. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: Children with disabilities who
participate in similar activities to their typically developing peers may not
necessarily develop commensurate levels of social competence. As well as focusing
on increasing the participation of children in activities other factors that may
have a stronger influence on social competence should be considered, such as
supporting (1) the social experience of disability and (2) the quality of
interactions that children with disabilities experience.

Langue : ANGLAIS