Inclusion and participation barriers explored from the perspectives of young children with disabilities: How do Danish professionals condition the transitional processes of young children with disabilities?

CHACDOC-Bergen 2019 May 22-24 Cultural-Historical Approaches to Children’s Development and Childhood 6 Inclusion and participation barriers explored from the perspectives of young children with disabilities: How do Danish professionals condition the transitional processes of young children with disabilities? Kurt Bendix-Olsen Associate Professor, Center for Applied Welfare Research, University College UCL, Denmark The paper sets out to explore how professionals in Danish preschools approach children with disabilities and cooperate inter-professionally when the pedagogical aim is the continued inclusion and full participation of children with disabilities. Inclusion of children with disabilities in Danish general day care is a relatively new responsibility for ECE professionals. The study’s research question is: How do participation barriers present themselves to children with disabilities when they transition from one age group to the next around the age of three? How can social sustainability be enhanced for all children? The empirical material behind the study is mainly produced in relation to the ph.d.-thesis: Young Children’s Perspectives on Inclusive Practice (Bendix-Olsen, 2018). In this research project four children with different types of impairments were followed over a two year period in two day care centres. The research methodology was explorative drawing on practice theory (Lave, 2011; Lave & Wenger 1991; Wenger, 1998), critical psychology (Holzkamp, 2005; Dreier, 2008; Højholt, 2016) and material feminism (Garland-Thomson, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2015). New empirical material will be produced by following up on one of the children’s day care trajectories as she faces her transition to the general school system.