The social attention skills of preschool children with an intellectual disability and children with a hearing loss

THIRTY PRESCHOOL CHILDREN (10 with typical development, 10 with an intellectual disability and 10 with a hearing impairment) were videotaped during play. Data was collected for each participant group, covering the number, length and nature of social engagement opportunities (SEOs) and the children's attentional states during SEOs. The typically developing group had SEOs of longer duration than did the children with an intellectual disability, although not significantly longer than those of the group with a hearing impairment. The children with intellectual disability were more frequently disengaged during SEOs. The typical group's SEOs were more visual and interactive than those of the other two groups. The typically developing group was more attentive than the group with a hearing impairment, and was more likely to display aware alert and sustained attention than were the two disability groups. For higher-order attentional states, the typically developing group was more likely to achieve focused and divided attention than was the hearing impaired group, which was more likely to exhibit these states than was the group with an intellectual disability.