Delicate Threads: Friendships Between Children with and Without Special Needs in Inclusive Settings

Delicate Threads is the culmination of the author's years of careful observations of friendships between seven pairs of children-each including a child with a moderate to severe disability-who are classmates in an inclusive elementary school. The sometimes intimate interactions described here give readers a rare view of the nature of these friendships, how they develop, their impact on the children involved, how the families and teachers perceive them and contribute to their success or failure, as well as the benefits of inclusion.