COLUMBUS, Ohio – The secret to boosting the language skills
of preschoolers with disabilities may be to put them in classrooms with
typically developing peers, a new study finds.Researchers found that the average language skills of a
child’s classmates in the fall significantly predicted the child’s language
skills in the spring – especially for children with disabilities.The results
support inclusion policies in schools that aim to have students with
disabilities in the same classrooms alongside their typically developing peers,
said Laura Justice,
co-author of the study and professor of teaching and learning at The
Ohio State University.