Investigated with five communication handicapped and four model (normal) children were communication patterns and friendship choices in a mainstreamed preschool setting. A review of literature revealed a controversy as to whether mainstreamed communication handicapped children receive appropriate verbal models and whether mainstreaming helps develop the social skills of the handicapped children. Scan sampling procedures were used to collect data over a 6-week period on potential social/communication interactions, and each child was seen individually for a sociometric investigation of positive and negative choices for playing with and talking to classmates. Results of the study of interactions indicated that teachers were doing the most talking and the handicapped children were being talked to the least by their peers. No patterns could be established through a comparison of the sociometric choices; however, the three most liked children were models. A focal study of one handicapped S indicated that she was more often talked to in comparison to initiating talking to others, that teachers and then normal children were the most frequent interactors, that the S usually did not respond verbally when talked to, and that the S interacted more with normal than handicapped classmates. Generally, intervention on the part of a teacher appeared necessary in order to develop interactions between mainstreamed handicapped and normal children, and there appeared to be a relationship between severity of the handicap and social acceptance. (IM)