Inclusion of Young Children with Disabilities in Mainstream Early Childhood Services

Project Team

University of Sydney and the Office of Childcare, NSW Department of Community Services

Kathy Gray
Gwynnyth Llewellyn
A/Professor June Wangmann (NSW Department of Community Services)

Overview

This project, funded by the ARC Linkage scheme (APAI), is investigating the barriers to, and factors facilitating effective inclusion of young children with disabilities in mainstream early childhood services in the Australian funding, policy and practice context. Specifically, the project will:

• Identify the barriers to and factors facilitating inclusion of young disabled children in three mainstream early childhood service settings, preschool, long day care and family day care
• Determine what works against and what positively supports the inclusion of young disabled children in these settings over a period of time
• Determine the expertise and training required to consistently employ effective inclusion practices in these settings

Approach

This project will employ the conceptual model of activity settings developed by O'Donnell & Tharp (1990) and refined in the work of Weisner, Gallimore and colleagues at the University of California at Los Angeles. This conceptual model defines any activity setting as a unit of contextualised activity (in this case inclusion) at the heart of which is human interaction.

The conceptual model directly addresses the complex interplay of environment, adaptive behaviour and experience by examining (i) the objective features of personnel, task and place, together with (ii) the subjective features of values, motivations and purposes.

Five activity setting variables are examined: (a) personnel present during an activity, (b) salient cultural values and beliefs, (c) the operations and task demands of the activity itself, (d) the scripts for conduct that govern the participant's actions, and, (e) the purposes or motives of the participants.

This project will employ a prospective, multiple case study design, incorporating interviews, document review, questionnaire and systematic observation. A sample of approximately 20-30 cases will be followed for a period of two years. Each case will include the child (<5 years) with a disability, their parents and the mainstream service providers involved in the inclusion process.

• Interviews will be held at least quarterly with parents and service providers. The interviews will incorporate the AIMS (Buell & Minnes, 1997), a measure of community inclusion.
• The child's experience of inclusion will be explored through quarterly, on-site participant observation and videotape analysis. Each child will be videotaped participating in structured and unstructured activities (eight x 30 minute segments). The video-recordings will be analysed using the Code for Active Student Participation and Engagement-Revised (CASPER II, Brown, Favazza & Odom, 1995).

Anticipated Outcomes

Development of a printed and web-based resource incorporating guidelines for effective inclusive practices, and
Recommendations concerning the further development of effective inclusive practices by removing existing barriers through policy, funding and service practice changes.

Related Publications

Llewellyn G, Thompson K & Fante M (2003). Inclusion in early childhood services: Ongoing challenges. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 27 (3), 18-23.

Llewellyn G, Thompson K & Fante M (2000). Young children with disabilities in NSW Children's Services (pp. 95-122). In NSW Department of Community Services, Insights into Research: Four studies on early childhood issues and children's services. Available from, Office of Childcare, NSW Department of Community Services.