Association Between Characteristics of Arkansas’ Early Childhood Programs and Serving Children With Disabilities

• In Event: Early Childcare and Schooling

Abstract

Introduction
Although federal legislation, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) emphasize integration of children with disabilities into early childhood education (ECE) programs (IDEIA, 2004; U.S. Department of Justice, 2020), exclusionary practices occur. Children with disabilities participate less frequently in ECE settings and are more likely to be suspended or expelled from ECE programs than their peers (Benjamin et al., 2017; Zeng et al., 2021). Interviews with ECE providers indicate they value inclusion, but lack knowledge and training (Bruns & Morgharreban, 2007; Weglarz-Ward et al., 2019). Research has not yet examined how characteristics of programs impact the likelihood of serving children with disabilities. Understanding these characteristics can indicate facilitators and barriers to inclusion.

Research Questions
We asked:
1. What characteristics of Arkansas’ ECE centers and their communities are associated with serving children whom they identify as having a disability?
2. How do these characteristics compare to the Arkansas ECE centers and communities that do not report serving children with disabilities?

Study Population
As part of a larger study about ECE enrollment, we sent electronic surveys to 1,231 licensed Arkansas centers in early 2021. Providers received $10 for survey completion. We received 463 complete surveys.

Methods
Providers identified the number of children who had an Individualized Education Plan or Individualized Family Service Plan. Responses were recoded into a binary variable - served at least one child with a disability or did not serve children with disabilities. We ran a logistic regression to examine the association between serving children with disabilities and features of ECE centers and their surrounding community. We used full-information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimation to handle missing data.

Results and Implications
Demographics are in Table 1. As shown in Table 2, factors associated with a greater likelihood of serving children with disabilities were: receiving public funding (Odds ratio [OR] = 1.83, Confidence Intervals [CI]=-0.27-1.03, p=0.003), highest quality rating (OR=4.83, CI=3.65-5.11, p=0.0001), and more programs exclusively serving children with disabilities in the area (OR=1.09, CI=1.01-1.17, p=0.02). These results are promising, especially considering publicly funded programs (e.g. Arkansas’ pre-kindergarten program, Head Start) prioritize enrolling children with disabilities and have policies mandating high quality programming. Alternately, factors associated with reduced likelihood of serving children with disabilities included: for-profit program (OR = 2.63, CI=-0.27-1.03, p=0.003), church sponsorship (OR=3.45, CI=-0.47-1.05, p=0.002), serving infants and toddlers (OR=2.78, CI=-0.56-1.18, p=0.02), and urban location (OR=2.08, CI=-0.11-1.07, p=0.01). Given an increasing percentage of disability diagnoses in early childhood (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021) and the promise of early intervention (e.g. French & Kennedy, 2018), these findings suggest a need for expanded services for children with disabilities. Our findings have implications for policymakers and practitioners aiming to enhance equitable ECE access for children with disabilities.

Authors

• Melissa Stoffers, University of Delaware
  Presenting Author

• Gerilyn Slicker, University of Nevada Las Vegas