Finally, interest centers provide children with many opportunities to develop social skills and allow children of varying developmental levels to interact and participate with each other. Activity Based Instruction Incorporating activity based instruction into preschool programs has proven to be effective in facilitating the inclusion of children with disabilities into community sites. This strategy allows the active participation of children with disabilities in the same settings and activities as their non-disabled peers. Activity based instruction is a natural teaching strategy that can be easily incorporated into the various interest centers typical of a developmentally appropriate child care and education setting. In a preschool setting instruction would occur within the events that naturally occur during the typical preschool day and does not include the use of worksheets, dittos, flashcards or drills to teach skills.
Higher interest is generated when children participate in typical preschool activities.
Children are more motivated and attention problems occur less frequently when skills are taught within the context of an activity. In addition, consequences are relevant to the activity and are thus more motivating. Opportunities to learn from other children are abundant when instruction is targeted within typical preschool activities. Children are typically unaware that a particular skill is being practiced when they are embedded within naturally occurring activities. Generalization and maintenance of skills are automatically included because the skills are functional, are taught across a number of settings, use a variety of materials, and are practiced with a number of different instructors.