Supporting Affective Development of Children With Disabilities Through Moral Dilemmas

Children and youth with disabilities are challenged in many ways, including in the social and affective domains. The author provides a relatively simple and easily constructed intervention, involving a combination of concepts from social-emotional learning, values clarification, cooperative learning, bibliotherapeutic interventions, and character education to address areas of need within the social and affective domains for very young children with or without disabilities. Stories created by teachers and presented during reading readiness, addressing authentic dilemmas that children may face in their daily lives, can promote positive social interaction, facilitate identification and clarification of values, and cultivate social-emotional and character development. A lesson template and sample lesson are provided, as well as suggestions for adapting to meet the needs of individual children.