{"id":1345,"date":"2026-08-30T22:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T12:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/?p=1345"},"modified":"2026-08-30T22:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T12:54:15","slug":"cvc2026-638","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/cvc2026-638\/","title":{"rendered":"CVC2026-638 \u2013 Play as a voice: Supporting social competence in neurodivergent children in inclusive early childhood settings"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"cvc-hero alignfull\">\n  <span class=\"cvc-chip\">Presentation \u2013 CVC2026-638<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-left\">Play as a voice: Supporting social competence in neurodivergent children in inclusive early childhood settings<\/h1>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<div class=\"cvc-authors\">\n<p><strong>Masud Ahmmed, <\/strong>Victoria University, Australia<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dunia El-Badaoui, <\/strong>Victoria University, Australia<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe title=\"CVC2026-638 Play as a voice: Supporting social competence in neurodivergent children in inclusive ea\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/57uQbxhQ5V0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p><strong>Background: <\/strong>Creating inclusive early childhood classrooms is essential to advancing social justice and ensuring every child\u2019s right to participate and be heard. However, children with developmental delays often experience barriers that limit their engagement, agency, and sense of belonging. While inclusive education is widely advocated, there remains a need to synthesise evidence on practices that meaningfully support both participation and voice in early learning environments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aim: <\/strong>This study aims to map and synthesise existing research on inclusive teaching practices that enhance participation and amplify the voices of young children with developmental delays in early childhood classrooms.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Method\/approach: <\/strong>A scoping review methodology was adopted to examine peer-reviewed literature on inclusive practices in early childhood education. Studies were identified through systematic database searches and screened using defined inclusion criteria. Data were charted and analysed thematically to identify key practices and patterns. As this study did not involve human participants, ethical approval was not required.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Results\/findings: <\/strong>The findings highlight that differentiated instruction, play-based and child-centred approaches, visual supports, and assistive technologies support participation and engagement. Teacher mindset, reflective practice, and collaboration with families and specialists were critical in enabling children\u2019s voices to be recognised. Limited research was found in low-resource and culturally diverse contexts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion: <\/strong>This study reinforces that participation is a fundamental expression of children\u2019s voice, agency, and inclusion. Moving beyond access to meaningful engagement is essential in creating inclusive early childhood environments where every child is heard, valued, and supported.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Implications for children and families: <\/strong>You deserve to learn in classrooms where your voice matters, where you feel included, supported, and able to participate fully in ways that reflect who you are.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Implications for practitioners:<\/strong> You play a key role in creating inclusive classrooms by using strategies that support participation, listening to children\u2019s voices, and adapting your teaching to meet diverse needs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Keywords<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong> inclusive education, children\u2019s participation, children\u2019s voice, developmental delays, early childhood education, social justice in education<\/p>\n<p><strong>This presentation relates to the following <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/sdgs.un.org\/goals\"><strong>United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<ul class=\"cvc-sdgs\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sdgs.un.org\/goals\/goal4\">SDG 4: Quality Education<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sdgs.un.org\/goals\/goal10\">SDG\u00a010: Reduced Inequality<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Masud Ahmmed, Victoria University, Australia; Dunia El-Badaoui, Victoria University, Australia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,49,52,1],"tags":[46,47],"class_list":["post-1345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-childrens-communication","category-childrens-inclusion","category-childrens-rights-voices-and-perspectives","category-presentations","tag-sdg-04","tag-sdg-10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1345"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1544,"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions\/1544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}