Preschool experiences have a significant effect on children's language development, however, it is unclear which classroom activities are associated with language abilities and whether this association differs for children with disabilities. Some Classroom activities are highly structured and teacher led, like circle time, while other are less structured like free-play. Here, we 1) examine associations between the proportion of time and the consistency of time children spend in different preschool activity contexts (structured versus unstructured) and their language abilities and 2) ask whether this association differs for children with different developmental disabilities including hearing loss, autism spectrum disorder, and developmental delay. Participants included 138 3-5-year-old children. During classroom observations (every 1-4 week), trained coders noted the time of each activity, including structured activities (story time, organized play, circle time) and unstructured activities (general free-play, outdoor play, meal time). We assessed children's expressive and receptive language abilities with the Preschool Language Scales-5. Results indicated that children spending larger proportions of time in structured activities tended to have higher assessed language abilities, but this varied by disability status such that the effect was stronger for typically developing children. Additionally, there was a negative effect of consistency of time in activities such that, for all children, having more variation across observations of their time in structured activities was associated with stronger language abilities. These findings are a first step for developing personalized interventions and educational practices that could bolster language development in children with developmental disabilities.
