What do young children think and feel about others who learn and behave differently to themselves, and can those thoughts and feelings be changed?

Currently we know little about how young children perceive differences and what their perspectives are regarding a potential future in which DNA screening for learning and behaviour differences is routinely used in an educational context. The main aim of this study was to gain this understanding by conducting a Philosophy for Children (P4C) randomised control trial in which children’s attitudes were measured about two non-gendered characters called Zig (with learning differences) and Zag (with behaviour differences). The participants were children, from two primary schools, based in the north of England (n = 165). An English version of The Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes Towards Children with Handicaps Scale (CATCH) (Armstrong et al., 2017) was used to assess children’s aspects of attitudes (affective, behaviour and cognitive) before and after intervention. Content analysis of data gathered at post testing, from a series of open-ended vignette questions, derived a deeper understanding of children’s thoughts about differences and predicting learning and behaviour problems, and whether they thought genetic screening had a role to play. A thematic analysis of the Philosophy for Children (P4C) discussion indicated the children's understanding of the origins and implications of being different. This study indicated that children’s affective (feelings) aspect of attitude could be significantly altered towards someone with learning differences following intervention. These research findings also demonstrate that very young children can give their perspectives, particularly when they are given the opportunity to do so. This demonstrates the positive potential impact of early intervention on children’s attitudes, tolerance, and acceptance of others who are different to them.