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This study aimed to investigate typically developing preschoolers’ behavior toward peers with disabilities in inclusive classrooms, focusing on the co-occurrence of the interactions between children with and without disabilities with various classroom contexts. Behaviors of 22 typically developing preschoolers were observed and coded on two different days in both indoor and outdoor classrooms during free play, small group activities, transitions, and meals/snack. Typically developing children interacted with peers with disabilities for a small amount of time; the interactions were significantly more likely in the outdoor classroom, in either child- or teacher-directed activities, and in play activities. There was a lack of adults’ intentional scaffolding for social interactions between children with and without disabilities even when they were near the children. Activity contexts contribute to children’s social behavior, and teachers need more support and training with inclusive and collaborative practices.

Children’s relationships with teachers in kindergarten are crucial for academic and social success. Research shows that teacher–child relationships are predicated, in part, on children’s temperament. The “INSIGHTS into Children’s Temperament” intervention was intended to improve children’s and teachers’ understanding of their and others’ temperament, and has been shown to improve children’s social skills and self-regulation in urban, under-resourced schools. The current study is part of a replication of the effects of INSIGHTS with a sample in rural schools. The purpose was to test the effectiveness of INSIGHTS for promoting positive relationships between teachers and children in kindergarten. Two cohorts of kindergarten students (N = 127) and teachers (N = 30) were randomized into INSIGHTS or control conditions by school. Teachers reported on the quality of the teacher–child relationship before and after the INSIGHTS intervention (Time 1 and 2) using the Student–Teacher Relationship Scale: Short Form and provided a rating of children’s temperament with the Teacher School-Age Temperament Inventory at Time 1. Data were analyzed with hierarchical linear modeling. Two significant findings emerged. First, INSIGHTS promoted more closeness between teachers and children, regardless of temperament. Second, the INSIGHTS intervention was protective against the development of conflictual teacher–child relationships for children with negative reactivity.

Temperament is a contextual and biological trait that influences how an individual interacts with the environment. Although scholars have organized and prioritized different dimensions of temperament, in this chapter we focus on temperament dimensions that are most salient to—and how they are exhibited in—early childhood classrooms. Temperament continues to be an important topic in early childhood classrooms because it is both important for children learning to manage their social emotional competence, which relates to long-term academic success and positive mental health, and for teachers to develop classroom management skills that provide a positive climate for an array of children and temperament types. After introducing the notion of temperament, we describe how teachers may create environments and react to children in ways that support child temperament. Finally, INSIGHTS into Children’s Temperament, an empirically based social–emotional intervention, will be introduced. This intervention focuses on how children’s temperament unfolds in the classroom and how the adults in children’s lives can create “goodness-of-fit” for optimal outcomes.

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