Forging Paths: Understanding Outdoor Play for Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood.

Outdoor active play during early childhood supports healthy child development and is a fundamental right for all children. Childcare centres are one of the first opportunities for participation in active play among children with and without disabilities, presenting a potential space for inclusive outdoor active play to occur. Children with disabilities (CWD) face many barriers to participation resulting in exclusion within the childcare setting, especially when outdoors. To promote and sustain outdoor active play during early childhood for all children, this project aimed to understand parent and early childhood educator perspectives of barriers and facilitators to outdoor active play for CWD. Virtual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 parents of children aged 2-6 years with a diagnosed or suspected disability and 4 educators who had experience working with CWD in outdoor, natural spaces. Interview questions were guided by the social-ecological model. Three primary themes were identified through reflexive thematic analysis of the transcripts: ‘Disability in the outdoors- nature vs. ‘normal’’, ‘Adults can and should support outdoor active play for all’, and ‘Outdoor spaces allow for true child-led, free play and learning’. Collectively, these findings highlight parent and educator perspectives on access to outdoor spaces, the sometimes-conflicting beliefs of outdoor education between adults, and the importance of adapted outdoor play. Parent and educator experiences led to a deeper understanding of strategies to facilitate outdoor play by addressing how adults implicate participation in the outdoors. Outdoor, natural environments allow space for CWD to engage in play and learning, with supportive adults.