Inclusive early childhood education for the group of children identified as experiencing a disability has become a key issue for United Nations agencies, policy-makers, researchers and practitioners around the world (Odom et al., 2004; United Nations, 2006). The underlying principle for realizing early childhood inclusion is based on the assumption that it provides the earliest opportunity for children with disabilities to interact with their peers in natural environments. Particularly, play provides the primary context for children to interact and acquire emerging social, cognitive and linguistic skills which are significant for facilitating their engagement in the educational and social processes of school life and, by extension, their development (Ladd, 2005).

For children with disabilities attending mainstream preschool settings, the formulation of optimal interpersonal interactions with peers constitutes a significant challenge. Related research findings have shown that, although children with disabilities display more peer interactions in inclusive versus segregated settings (Kishida & Kemp, 2009), they tend to: engage in less social play (Luttrop & Granlund, 2010); be at a relatively high risk for social rejection (Odom et al., 2006); and occupy vertical positions within their peer culture (Janson, 2001).

Taken together these findings suggest that the social effects of inclusion do not happen automatically just by ensuring the physical proximity of children with disabilities. On the contrary, the early childhood teacher's role is of critical importance in promoting meaningful social relationships among peers. The increased focus on the significance of teacher support is based on the assumption that teacher-child interactions are an important route for enhancing children’s academic and social competence. From this perspective, a range of evidence-based intervention approaches have been developed to enhance children’s social behavior where teachers are viewed as ‘constructors’ of developmentally appropriate and stimulating environments, and as ‘mediators’ of goal-directed practices adjusted to each child’s social agendas, needs and strengths (e.g. Brown, Odom & McConnell, 2008). However, far less is known about the strategies teachers deploy in their classrooms to encourage interactions between children with and without disabilities. Indeed, the existing findings suggest that although teachers provide opportunities for children with disabilities to access to and interact with potential playmates, they rely, primarily, on children to promote their own social competence (e.g. Buysse, Goldman & Skinner, 2003).

The aim of this study was twofold: (a) to explore teachers’ views of the social interactions between children with and without disabilities and their associated strategies and (b) to investigate, via systematic classroom observations, teachers’ embedded practices for encouraging social interactions among peers. 

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