Revision and validation of the Individual Child Engagement Record: a practitioner-friendly measure of learning opportunities for children with disabilities in early childhood settings.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to revise and validate the Individual Child Engagement Record (ICER), an instrument designed to observe and measure the engagement of children with disabilities in early childhood settings.(1)


METHODS
The ICER was revised with reference to pilot study results and the literature. Inter-observer reliability of the revised measure (ICER-R) was examined by calculating levels of agreement between observers coding video-clips of children with disabilities engaged in three different activity types (mealtime, free play, and structured group time) in an inclusive childcare centre. The E-Qual III was used as a criterion measure to examine concurrent validity.


RESULTS
Good overall percentage agreement and kappa coefficients were achieved for the codes recorded. A statistically significant correlation was found between data gathered using the ICER-R and the E-Qual III when comparing total engaged behaviours.


CONCLUSIONS
The ICER-R was found to be a valid and reliable measure of engagement of children with disabilities in early childhood settings. The results support the potential of the ICER-R as a practitioner-friendly tool.
Macquarie University Special Education Centre, Sydney, Australia. yuriko.kishida@speced.sed.mq.edu.au
Yuriko
Y
Kishida
Coral
C
Kemp
Mark
M
Carter
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004519:Education, Special; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010988:Play and Playthings; D011581:Psychological Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012919:Social Behavior