The purpose of this study was to explore the acceptance of peers with mental retardation (MR) in an Italian elementary school hosting a cluster of pupils with severe and profound MR. A similar school in which most pupils have little regular contact with children with disabilities participated for purposes of comparison. To assess social acceptance, we presented photographs of hypothetical children together with vignettes describing the protagonists’ social behaviour. Respondents indicated how likely they would be to include the hypothetical child in social activities and which of the adjectives on a checklist they would ascribe to the child. Although most of the participants responded that they would include the hypothetical child in most social activities, sociometrics revealed that ” ve of the six children with moderate disabilities who were integrated in the regular classes of both schools were rejected socially.
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