Abstract
The purpose of the analysis reported in this article was to determine to what extent child and classroom characteristics were associated with the amount of time children with disabilities spent displaying each of 5 categories of engagement. Predictors consisted of children's receipt of incidental teaching, developmental quotient, and quality of peer interactions. Data were compiled from repeated observations of 61 preschoolers with disabilities who attended 31 early childhood classrooms. All regression analyses showed noteworthy effects: Although the model accounted for the most variance when predicting the most extreme forms of engagement, time spent in each of the 5 categories of engagement could be successfully predicted using the variables of interest. Developmental quotient and the quality of children's peer interactions accounted for a large percentage of the unique variance across engagement categories; incidental teaching was, however, a particularly strong predictor of the time children spent displaying sophisticated engagement.