Ecobehavioral assessment in early childhood programs: A portrait of preschool inclusion

The purpose of this investigation was to describe the nature of preschool children's experiences in inclusive early childhood programs. The momentary time-sampling data reported in this article represented 3 hours of observational information per child for 112 preschoolers with and without disabilities in 16 community-based, inclusive preschool programs in four states. In general, children with and without disabilities exhibited similar child behaviors and were meaningfully engaged in a variety of adult- and child-initiated activities within similar activity contexts. Two noteworthy between-group differences were that (a) children without disabilities, compared to those with disabilities, participated in more child-child social behaviors and (b) children with disabilities received more adult support and attention than peers without disabilities. These ecobehavioral data begin to "paint a portrait" of preschool inclusion. This "portrait" revealed that children with disabilities were physically included but suggested that if social integration of young children with and without disabilities is a primary goal of inclusion, then additional, focused intervention efforts may be required to establish socially inclusive programs for young children with and without disabilities.