November 8, 2025

Early Childhood Teachers’ Problem Behavior Teaching Strategies for At-Risk Children with Developmental Disabilities: The Impact of Personal and Environmental Variables

Key Points

Teachers’ strategies for at-risk children with developmental disabilities are affected by their teaching experience.
Statistical analysis showed significant factors include teaching experience and professional development programs.
Observational study involving 355 teachers from daycare centers in urban areas of South Korea revealed insights.
Findings suggest enhancing teacher expertise via professional development and mentoring support for more effective teaching.

Abstract

This study aimed to examine differences in early childhood teachers’ problem behavior teaching strategies for at-risk young children with disabilities according to their personal variables (age, final educational attainment, qualification type, and teaching experience) and environmental variables (type of institution, form of institution, experience as a homeroom teacher in inclusive classrooms, and experience in teaching young children with disabilities). To this end, data were collected from 355 survey responses completed by early childhood teachers working at daycare centers located in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon, and were analyzed accordingly. The results showed, first, that among the personal variables, age, final educational attainment, and teaching experience produced statistically significant differences in teachers’ problem behavior teaching strategies. Second, among the environmental variables, form of institution, experience as a homeroom teacher in inclusive classrooms, and experience in teaching young children with disabilities were found to have statistically significant effects. These findings indicate that age, final educational attainment, teaching experience, form of institution, inclusive classroom experience, and experience in teaching young children with disabilities are key factors influencing early childhood teachers’ use of problem behavior teaching strategies for at-risk young children with disabilities. Therefore, in order for early childhood teachers to effectively implement problem behavior teaching strategies for at-risk young children with disabilities, it is suggested that the minimum educational qualifications for teachers be raised to enhance professional expertise, that mentoring systems be established in which experienced teachers support novice teachers as senior mentors, and that expert-level teacher professional development programs be provided to better prepare teachers in advance for working with at-risk young children with disabilities.

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