OBJECTIVE: We examined the sensitivity of the Evaluation of Social Interaction (ESI) as a measure of the overall quality of social interaction in children as they engage in social exchanges in a natural context with typical social partners. METHOD: We compared the ESI measures of 23 children with disabilities with those of 23 children without disabilities, matched by age and gender. RESULTS: Paired t-test analysis revealed a statistically significant difference, t(22) = -4.065, p = .001, in the quality of social interaction for the two groups of children, indicating sensitivity of the ESI. CONCLUSION: The results support the use of the ESI to measure quality of social interaction in a natural context.
