Q2. What are two-to-three tips for fostering culturally responsive interaction opportunities with children with disabilities?

<Jeanette McCollum>

The whole idea of being sensitive and responsive can be a useful intervention guide here as well. One tip is to learn about, through observation or discussion, with whom, when, and where the target child is most likely to engage in interactions with adults and with siblings or peers. With whom is the child most likely to engage in pleasurable interactions that have the qualities of turn-taking, whether verbal or non-verbal? Are there adult-child or child-child interactive games or other high-interest activities that are common in that family's cultural context that might provide the basis for responsive interaction intervention? Many high-interest activities may already incorporate aspects of responsive interaction such as imitation and turn-taking, and can become the basis for intervention. In what other contexts do interactions naturally occur? Are there adult-child routines into which communicative opportunities can be embedded through using strategies such as waiting for attempts by the child?

A second tip is to observe the child during different types of interpersonal interactions, WITH the adult as an observation partner. When the child is engaged in activities in which s/he is interested, in adult-child games, or with another child, how does she respond? What is she feeling and communicating, and how do we know? How and when does she initiate or try to maintain interactions? Might some of these ways of initiating and responding be reflective of cultural norms, as well as of the child's individual differences? Sharing observations with the adult can lead to better understanding of the child's interactions for both the family member and the practitioner, and can provide a better foundation for planning appropriate opportunities and interventions that respond to and support cultural context.