Training Staff to Measure the Engagement of Children with Disabilities in Inclusive Childcare Centres

Abstract

Practitioner use of the revised Individual Child Engagement Record -Revised (ICER-R) for observing children with disabilities in inclusive childcare is examined. Training in the use of the ICER-R, which includes both a momentary time sampling observation system and rating scales, was provided across two training phases with five to seven participants. Four of the five participants who completed both phases of the training achieved greater than 80% inter-observer agreement on the observation measure within the allocated time, and were able to maintain this level of agreement over subsequent observation sessions. There was consistency in ratings across observers and positive, statistically significant correlations were found for data gathered using momentary time sampling and data from rating scales. The practical value of the ICER-R was supported by feedback provided through evaluation questionnaires completed by participants. Training childcare practitioners to systematically observe children with disabilities in inclusive childcare has the potential to benefit both children and staff.

Observations of Children With Disability During Arts-Based Multisensory Story and Rhyme Activities: Is It All Just Chimes and Perfumes?

“…Engagement observations using ICER-R (Kishida et al, 2008) An advantage of the ICER-R in this current research was that it combined both quantitative data, through partial interval time sampling, and qualitative data, through recorded observations. Using the ICER-R, observers record the types of engagement children exhibit, who they are interacting with, and whether any physical prompts were involved, at 15-second intervals as outlined in Kishida and Kemp (2010). In this research, two researchers observed two separate six-session programs.…”