Role Taking

Abstract

The behavior of peers toward a child may have a powerful influence on that child's self-concept and academic achievement. For this reason, educators are particularly concerned with the social interactions of handicapped children, who often face rejection by their nonhandicapped peers. As a first step in increasing understanding of the social problems experienced by exceptional youngsters, this article reviews theoretical and empirical literature which links social behavior to role- or perspective-taking ability. Implications point to a need to investigate handicapped and nonhandicapped children's ability to take each other's role.