Adapting a Teacher-Child Interaction Training for Young Multilingual Learners with Disabilities: A Mixed-Methods Study

Abstract

Young multilingual learners with disabilities (MLWDs) often experience compounded barriers to accessing high-quality teacher-child interactions due to the intersecting marginalization related to disability and linguistic background. The purpose of this study was to expand this access by adapting Teacher-Child Interaction Training (TCIT) to build teacher capacity to support Chinese-speaking MLWDs in early childhood inclusive classrooms and to examine its feasibility and short-term impacts on teacher and child outcomes. Guided by a cultural adaptation framework, this study employed an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design that used caregiver and teacher input collected via qualitative focus groups to inform the adaptation of TCIT. The adapted TCIT was subsequently tested using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design to evaluate its impact on teachers’ use of positive interaction skills and on child social communication as indicators of teacher-child interaction quality at the teacher and child levels. Results indicated a functional relation between the adapted TCIT and increases in teachers’ use of positive interaction skills. Although a functional relation was not established for child social communication outcomes, descriptive data suggested that teachers’ use of positive interaction skills may support children’s communicative engagement. The study contributes to the literature by extending culturally sustaining and asset-based perspectives to classroom-based intervention adaptation and highlighting the importance of community-engaged adaptation processes for expanding intervention fit and equitable access for young MLWDs.