Child Development

ble to compare countries in terms of these modal phi-
losophies or practices, provided that one is careful to
avoid overgeneralizations.

Many people in the United States mistakenly be-
lieve that Asian students typically participate in highly
academically oriented preschool programs. In fact,
American preschools are more likely than are pro-
grams in Japan or other Asian countries to have the
goal of providing children an academic head start.
The majority of Japan’s preschool programs, for ex-
ample, are organized around the goal of teaching
children to work as members of a group. This entails
fostering persistence, concentration, and a willing-
ness to forestall individual rewards. In Japan, instruc-
tion in reading and writing during the preschool
years has traditionally been seen as the province of
the family and occurs largely at home. In contrast to
the group orientation of many preschools in Japan,
preschools in the United States stress independence
and self-confidence. Interestingly, there is evidence
of an increasing trend toward providing an academic
head start to preschoolers in Japan, although this
often leads to clashes between educators and families
who have more ‘‘traditional’’ values.

Inclusion of Preschoolers with Special

Needs

In the 1980s and 1990s, there was an ever-
increasing emphasis on educating children with spe-
cial needs (e.g., learning disabilities) alongside typi-
cally developing peers in the ‘‘regular’’ classroom
rather than in separate, ‘‘special’’ classes that enroll
only children with disabilities. Although mandated by
federal laws and regulations, this move toward inclu-
sion has been controversial. Nevertheless, there has
been considerable research documenting the poten-
tial benefits of inclusion at all levels of education, in-
cluding the preschool level. These benefits are not
typically seen on standardized measures of achieve-
ment but rather on social and cognitive behaviors
within the classroom. Moreover, these benefits are
seen for typically developing children as well as for
children with special needs. Inclusion, however, may
not alleviate all the problems of children with special
needs. For example, children with cognitive disabili-
ties in inclusive classrooms participate in fewer social
interactions with peers and have fewer friends than
do typically developing preschoolers in the same
classes. It is important to recognize that there is con-
siderable variability among inclusive preschool pro-
grams in both their educational quality and the extent
to which there is an active attempt to fully include
children with special needs in the ‘‘life’’ of the class-
room. Not surprisingly, educational quality and the

nature of the inclusive practices affect the outcomes

for preschoolers with special needs.

See also: HEAD START; MONTESSORI METHOD

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Leonard Abbeduto

Patti Beth

PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR

The term prosocial behavior describes acts that dem-

onstrate a sense of empathy, caring, and ethics, in-

cluding sharing, cooperating, helping others,

generosity, praising, complying, telling the truth, de-

fending others, supporting others with warmth and

affection, nurturing and guiding, and even the altru-

336 PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR