Abstract
This study investigates teacher responses in Taiwan to children's initiations in regular classrooms and the differences between children with and without developmental delays. The sample consisted of 107 teacher-child dyads, including 53 children with developmental delays and 54 typically developing peers. Teacher-child interactions were videotaped during group activities. The results indicated that children with developmental delays initiated interactions as much as their typical peers and that teachers reciprocated to both groups with similar degrees of responsiveness. Children's initiations were positively and significantly associated with teachers' responses, regardless of the presence of the social intent. Based on the multiple regression analysis, 23.1% of the initiation variance was accounted for, which was statistically significant. This study provides evidence of the impact of teachers' responsiveness on children's initiations and suggests the need for early childhood teachers to increase their levels of responsiveness to children's initiations.