Inclusive Practice in the Early Years: Why Support Should Start Before Diagnosis

Early years practitioners are supporting increasingly complex needs, often while balancing stretched teams, rising expectations and limited specialist support. Across the sector, settings are noticing more children who need support with sensory processing, communication, emotional wellbeing, regulation and engagement.

According to the latest available DfE school census data for England, more than 1.7 million pupils are now identified as having special educational needs, the highest number recorded to date. Speech, language and communication needs remain the most common primary need for pupils receiving SEN support. While these figures relate primarily to pupils in schools, they reflect the increasing levels of need many practitioners and families are experiencing every day.

For early years teams, this creates practical and emotional pressure. Many practitioners want to build truly inclusive environments, but they are doing so while managing limited time, stretched staffing and long waiting times for specialist support and assessment. They may be holding the needs of children, families and colleagues while also trying to sustain calm, responsive practice throughout a busy day.

The conversation around inclusion is increasingly moving away from only responding once needs have been formally identified. More settings are focusing on creating emotionally safe, responsive and inclusive environments from the start, recognising that children do not need a diagnosis before they benefit from thoughtful, flexible and relationship-based support.

  

What is inclusive practice in the early years?

Inclusive practice in the early years means creating environments, routines and relationships that help all children feel safe, supported and able to participate, including children with SEND, communication needs or differing developmental profiles. Importantly, inclusive practice is not something separate from everyday provision. It is built into the way adults respond, communicate, structure routines and create emotionally safe environments throughout the day.

  

Why behaviour may be communicating stress

Young children communicate in many different ways. Some children use words, while others communicate more through facial expression, movement, sound, gesture, play, silence, withdrawal, or a need to stay close to a familiar adult.

Behaviour that adults may find difficult to understand can reflect stress, overwhelm, sensory overload, tiredness, anxiety, communication frustration, developmental need, or a child’s attempt to seek safety, connection or control.

Rather than asking, “How do we stop this behaviour?”, practitioners are increasingly encouraged to ask:

• What might this child be communicating?
• What could be causing stress or uncertainty?
• What support or environmental change might help them feel safer and more able to engage?

This shift towards curiosity and understanding helps children feel more secure and supported within the setting.

    

Why co-regulation and regulation matter in the early years

In the early years, regulation begins through relationship. Young children are still developing the brain and body systems that help them manage stress, transitions, frustration, sensory input and communication. They do not learn to regulate in isolation. They learn through repeated experiences of co-regulation with adults who notice, respond, soothe, name, pace and adapt alongside them.

Co-regulation happens in ordinary moments throughout the day. It may be the adult who slows their voice during a busy transition, offers a familiar phrase when a child is unsure, sits close without crowding, adjusts the sensory environment, or helps a child return to play after overwhelm. These small relational responses tell the child’s nervous system, “You are not on your own with this.” Over time, these experiences support children to feel safer, more connected and more able to take part in play and learning.

Research into child development and emotional wellbeing continues to reinforce a key message: children learn best when they feel safe, connected and emotionally secure. This is why co-regulation, emotional safety and responsive relationships are central to inclusive practice in the early years. The adult response, the environment and the pattern of the day all shape how safe a child feels and how much capacity they have for curiosity, connection and learning.
  

What inclusive environments look like in practice

Many practitioners are increasingly concerned about how well current systems, environments and levels of support are meeting children’s communication, emotional and developmental needs. Some children find transitions difficult because they do not yet have enough predictability, language or sensory security to move easily from one part of the day to another. Busy spaces, group routines and social expectations can also place high demands on young children who are still learning how to understand themselves, other people and the world around them.

Inclusive early years environments are often shaped through small, consistent and relational approaches.

• Predictable transitions help children know what is coming next
• Emotionally available adults help children feel held in mind
• Sensory-aware spaces reduce unnecessary stress and make participation more possible
• Communication-friendly approaches give children more than one way to understand, express themselves and join in

These approaches support children with identified SEND, but they also strengthen wellbeing, belonging and participation for all children in the setting.

Importantly, inclusive practice is about reducing barriers to participation. It recognises that children should not have to adapt to environments that do not yet meet their needs.

     

Children should not have to wait for diagnosis

With long waiting times for assessment and increasing levels of need across the sector, early years teams are often supporting children long before formal identification or specialist involvement.

A diagnosis can be important and helpful. It can support understanding, affirm a child’s needs and identity, and help families and settings access appropriate support. However, children should not have to wait for a formal diagnosis before adults respond to their needs with curiosity, care and flexibility.

This is why inclusive practice cannot rely solely on diagnosis-led intervention. Early years settings can begin by building inclusive environments through everyday practice, relationships and communication.

Inclusive practice also means being curious about each child’s family, culture, language, communication style and lived experience, so that difference is understood respectfully rather than misread as difficulty. A child’s way of joining in, seeking help, showing uncertainty or expressing discomfort may be shaped by many things, including culture, home language, neurodivergence, disability, previous experience and the relationships around them.

    

Supporting communication in different ways

Communication-friendly practice recognises that spoken language is only one part of communication. Young children may communicate through gesture, movement, facial expression, play, home languages, objects, visuals or AAC, where appropriate. This matters in the early years because children may be using emerging speech, multilingual development, sensory responses, neurodivergent communication styles, or non-verbal forms of expression.

This matters because children may be navigating emerging speech, multilingual development, sensory needs or neurodivergent communication styles. The role of adults is to stay curious, observe carefully and offer more than one way for children to express themselves and be understood.

When communication is supported in flexible and responsive ways, children are more likely to feel included, confident and able to participate.

    

Speaker spotlight: Cheryl Warren

Guest speaker in our upcoming Inclusive Practice in Early Years webinar, Cheryl Warren, is a highly respected neurodiversity specialist, trainer, and SEND consultant with extensive experience supporting inclusive practice across settings.

Cheryl’s work focuses on helping practitioners create environments where children feel safe, valued and able to participate as their authentic selves. Through her training and writing, she advocates for neurodiversity-affirming practice that prioritises belonging, emotional safety and connection.

Her practical, compassionate approach has supported many settings to build greater confidence in creating inclusive cultures that work in the reality of busy early years environments.

    

A practical conversation on Inclusive Practice in the Early Years

Inclusive practice is not about having every answer immediately. It is about creating environments where children feel safe enough to communicate, participate and learn from the very beginning. For many early years settings, the most meaningful changes come through small, consistent and relational approaches embedded into everyday practice.

In our upcoming webinar, Inclusive Practice in the Early Years: Supporting Regulation, Wellbeing and Learning, Thrive’s Viv Trask-Hall and Cheryl Warren will explore what effective inclusive practice looks like in early years settings today.

Together, they will discuss:

• why behaviour is often a sign of stress, overwhelm or unmet need
• how environments and adult responses support co-regulation
• why inclusive practice should begin before diagnosis
• the link between emotional safety, wellbeing and learning
• how settings can build consistent and sustainable inclusive practice across teams

This session is designed to support early years practitioners, leaders and SEND professionals looking for realistic, practical approaches that help children feel safe, supported, included and able to thrive.

Date: 11 June 2026 | Time: 4.00-4.45pm BST

Register your place here