Abstract
Using data from the Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements – Children with Longterm Conditions and Disabilities, the present study examined and compared four measures that assessed child difficulties, long-term conditions, activity limitations or disabilities to shed light on the use of non-parental child care among young children with disabilities at a national level. Overall, the results demonstrated the usefulness of integrating the medical and social models by using multiple measures of disability when identifying child disability. While the four measures independently identified children who varied in their general health and need for extra support at their main child care arrangement, the use of child care was largely similar for all children. To identify a group of children who may be at greater risk of participation restrictions in child care, further analyses were conducted on children with activity limitations identified by the Global Activity Limitation Indicator or by at least two of the other three measures (n=1,189): the Disability Screening Questions filter questions, the presence of a long-term condition, or a parent-reported type of disability. While these children were less likely to have excellent or very good general health and more likely to need extra support at their main child care arrangement than the children who were excluded from the final identified sample, the use of child care was similar between both groups of children.