Young children may not know how to initiate and sustain interactions with a child with disabilities. The children are aware of and display curiosity in the child who does not speak or move in the same way as they do. The following strategies to consider involve the manner used to invite children and the use of materials and activities to foster meaningful participation in interactions.

• Use a warm and accepting manner with children
• Encourage frequent and brief interactions when initially introducing a child to his or her peers.
• Invite a child to become involved in an ongoing activity with their classmate
• Suggest that a child select an activity that will include their classmate
• Facilitate meaningful participation in a natural and helpful manner

The attitude and style in which an adult interacts with the child with a disability is modeled by the other children in the classroom. An accepting and friendly manner conveys a desirable reason to interact, makes the child more approachable, and develops interest in the child as a person. A starting point for interactions is to encourage brief interactions. The adult or peer buddy may offer the initial invitation; or the child with a disability may be taught to wave, say an approximation of the greeting, or have greetings on a communication board or device. Another concept is to offer the children in the classroom opportunities to participate in an activity with their classmate. This places the focus on the activity rather than on the interaction, thus allowing the children to become familiar with the peer in an indirect and more natural manner.

The role of the adult facilitator is to teach the peers how to assist their friends without doing the activity for them, while also ensuring that both children are active and learning from the activity. This can be done by providing information about the child with a disability and interpreting the nonverbal communication, so that the peer can start to recognize the behavior of the child as communicative. The adult must be observant and responsive in order to support sustained interactions between children.