Experiences of children with or without disabilities in early childhood programs

This study examined children's individual experiences and activities in early care and education settings. Sixty 4to 5-year-old children (30 with disabilities and 30 without disabilities) were observed in early care and education settings using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) and items from the ECERS-R adapted to focus on an individual child's experience. Early childhood global quality had the largest effect on children's individual experiences after controlling for family and child characteristics. Furthermore, it appeared that the relationship between global quality and children's individual experiences did not vary by child characteristics, including disability status. There was some evidence, however, that the relationship between global quality and individual experiences varied by children's problem behavior. Introduction The quality of early care and education settings is an important contributor to children's development (Lamb, 1998; Love, Schochet, & Meckstroth, 1996; NICHD ECCRN, 2003b; Vandell & Wolfe, 2000). The issue of quality care is especially important considering the ever-increasing numbers of children in nonparental care settings. In the most recent report from the U. S. Census Bureau (2002) 63% of children under the age of 5 were spending an average of about 37 hours per week in some form of regular early care and education arrangement, with more placements in organized care and education facilities (e.g., 54 child care centers, Head Start programs, preschools) than family child care and other nonrelative arrangements (U.S Census Bureau, 2002). National statistics on care usage among families with children with disabilities is not known. However, using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, Brandon (2000) found the labor force participation rate among mothers raising children with disabilities was only slightly lower than that of mothers raising children without disabilities (61% compared to 67%). Research reviews and policy statements emphasize the cognitive and social development outcomes desired for children cannot be achieved without quality services (Epstein, 2000). The emphasis on accountability of schools in the No Child Left Behind Act (2001), and policy driven studies reporting a high prevalence of poor quality early care and education in the United States (Cost, Quality, and Child Outcome Study Team, 1995) have spurred early childhood professionals to recognize the importance of early care and education programs not only being available and accessible, but of high quality as well. With this heightened interest come questions regarding specific aspects of an early childhood setting that make a program good quality and good for all children, including children with disabilities or developmental delays. Few researchers have examined the relationship of global quality to quality of experiences for individual children, especially children with disabilities. In this study, with a sample of 4 to 5 year old children in early childhood center-based settings, we examined (a) the extent to which individual play/learning activities and experiences in early childhood settings differed for children with and without disabilities; (b) the relationship between the global quality of the early care and education setting and quality of care and education experienced by individual children both with and without disabilities; and (c) the extent to 55 which relationships between early childhood global quality and quality of care and activities experienced by individual children differed for children with and without disabilities. Importance of Early Care and Education Quality Early childhood programs provide a context where many children can experience daily learning, play and interaction opportunities that can support cognitive, language, and social development (Cost, Quality, and Child Outcome Study Team, 1995; Peisner-Feinberg & Burchinal, 1997; NICHD ECCRN, 2000, 2003a, 2003b; Peisner-Feinberg et al., 2001; Vandell & Wolfe, 2000). However, quality has been shown to account for less than 20 (range 1-19) percent of the variance in predicting children's outcomes (NICHD ECCRN, 1998, 2003b), indicating that other factors are contributing heavily to children's development. Although family factors are strong contributors to children's outcomes (Clarke-Stewart, Vandell, Howes, 1990; NICHD ECCRN, 1998, 2001), another key factor may be children's individual experiences in care. Children's Individual Experiences and Activities in Care Researchers have demonstrated that early care and education quality impacts the development of children as a group (Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes Study Team, 1995; NICHD ECCRN, 2000; Vandell & Wolfe, 2000; Whitebook, Howes, & Phillips, 1990); however, relatively little is known about individual children's experiences in these settings. Most of the measures are not designed to evaluate the effects of environments on children's individual experiences; rather the measures assess the classroom as a whole and the children's experiences on average. Thus, understanding the effect of the environment on individual children requires careful monitoring of those children (Wolery, 2004). 56 The quality of early care and education settings is an important contributor to child developmental outcomes, however, more specific process variables such as experiences of individual children also are effective predictors of child outcomes (Kontos, Burchinal, Howes, Wisseh, & Galinsky, 2002). Although a global quality rating of an early care and education setting provides information regarding the opportunities available to participating children, that rating might not reflect accurately the actual experiences of each individual child. Likewise, process variables that examine children's experiences as a group neglect real differences in the quality of care and education each child is receiving in the early childhood setting. Only attending to group quality indicators can result in what Bredekamp and Rosegrant (1992) describe as the "early childhood error"—the situation when early childhood educators prepare an appropriate, stimulating environment for young children but then fail to follow it with "scaffolding" or providing supportive, responsive interactions with children as they engage in play activities. By examining the issue of early care and education quality from the program level; the assumption is made that classroom quality impacts every child in the classroom similarly. However, it neglects to account for what makes a program good in terms of benefiting individual children, and limits the information individual programs can use for intervention planning and evaluation at both the child and program level. Although some children may have needs (e.g., disability or problem behavior) that potentially could limit their play and interactions, the goals of a high quality program should be to encourage all children to participate to the fullest degree (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). In any classroom, children may have different experiences (Carta, Sainato, & Greenwood, 1988). Thus, a given classroom may produce high quality experience for most 57 children but not for one or two children (Wolery, 2004). This is a concern especially in inclusive classrooms where the quality may be high for children without disabilities but not for the child with disabilities. An early care and education setting that provides good quality care along with individualized learning experiences can facilitate development for every child (Katims & Pierce, 1995; Lonigan, Anthony, Bloomfield, Dyer, & Samwel, 1999) regardless of disability status or problem behavior. Children's individual experiences in early care and education settings have been assessed in a number of ways (e.g., children's play, children's engagement with materials and peers, children's interactions), but until recently these efforts have not been linked to the overall issue of care quality. Howes and Smith (1995) examined child care quality, teacher behavior, children's play, and cognitive activity among preschool aged children in child care settings. When teachers provided more positive social interaction, the children in their care tended to display greater emotional security. Likewise, when teachers provided more creative play activities, the children in their care tended to display more advanced levels of cognitive activity. However, Howes and Smith posited that classroom quality can constrain the teacherchild relationship and activities; for example, a poorly equipped, crowded and understaffed classroom will limit play activities available to both teachers and children. Furthermore, an equipped, fully staffed classroom does not ensure that each child in care takes part in the appropriate play and learning experiences provided. Children's engagement has also been widely studied as an aspect of children's individual experiences in care. Engagement has been defined as the amount of time children spend interacting with the environment (with adults, peers, or materials), in a developmentally and contextually appropriate manner (McWilliam & Bailey, 1995). 58 Numerous studies have demonstrated that engagement levels vary as aspects of the care environment change. Specifically, early research on engagement indicated that the accessibility of developmental^ appropriate materials (Krantz & Risley, 1977; Montes & Risley, 1975) as well as incidental teaching (Hart & Risley, 1995; Warren & Kaiser, 1986) promotes children's engagement. Raspa, McWilliam, and Ridley (2001) found that lower levels of child engagement were more likely to occur in poor quality classrooms while higher levels child engagement were more likely to occur in high quality classrooms. Global quality measures have been adapted to examine children's individual experiences also. Researchers adapted some of the ECERS-R items to capture each child's uniq