Peer-reviewed article
Early childhood development strategy for the world’s children with disabilities
Bolajoko Olubukunola Olusanya, Scott Mitchell Wright, Tracey Smythe, Mary A. Khetani, Marisol Moreno Angarita et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001Young children with disabilities are at risk of falling behind in early development and need targeted support to access fair learning opportunities, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The paper reviews early childhood development programmes globally and identifies key components needed for an effective strategy: twin-track approaches, legislation, early intervention guidelines, family involvement, dedicated coordination, performance tracking, trained workforce, and dedicated funding. Without a global disability-focused early childhood development strategy led at the international level, the Sustainable Development Goals for children with disabilities are unlikely to be achieved.
Key points
- Young children with disabilities face substantial risks of sub-optimal early childhood development
- No global strategy currently exists for achieving inclusive early childhood education for children under 5 with disabilities despite SDG commitments
- Effective strategies should include twin-track approaches, strong legislative support, early intervention guidelines, and family involvement
- Designated coordinating agencies, performance indicators, and explicit funding mechanisms are essential components
- A dedicated global leadership and disability-focused strategy is needed to realise the SDGs vision
Limitations
This paper is a review of existing programmes and reports rather than an empirical evaluation of a specific intervention. It does not provide data on the effectiveness of individual strategy components or compare outcomes across different implementation models.
Abstract
Early childhood is foundational for optimal and inclusive lifelong learning, health and well-being. Young children with disabilities face substantial risks of sub-optimal early childhood development (ECD), requiring targeted support to ensure equitable access to lifelong learning opportunities, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Although the Sustainable Development Goals, 2015-2030 (SDGs) emphasise inclusive education for children under 5 years with disabilities, there is no global strategy for achieving this goal since the launch of the SDGs. This paper explores a global ECD framework for children with disabilities based on a review of national ECD programmes from different world regions and relevant global ECD reports published since 2015. Available evidence suggests that any ECD strategy for young children with disabilities should consists of a twin-track approach, strong legislative support, guidelines for early intervention, family involvement, designated coordinating agencies, performance indicators, workforce recruitment and training, as well as explicit funding mechanisms and monitoring systems. This approach reinforces parental rights and liberty to choose appropriate support pathway for their children. We conclude that without a global disability-focussed ECD strategy that incorporates these key features under a dedicated global leadership, the SDGs vision and commitment for the world's children with disabilities are unlikely to be realised.