Character Education: Lessons for Teaching Social and Emotional Competence

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a social skills program, Connecting with Other: 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 was measured only in terms of teacher perceptions, because of the absence of preprogram assessments of the targeted students' social skills. 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.