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Carers in integrated early years settings can enable children with disabilities to share vital physical experiences, writes Jane Muir How often is that phrase 'she's into everything...' used to describe a toddler's first explorations of her world? Small children explore everything in their world all of the time, from the moment they open their eyes in the morning until they collapse into bed at night, and however insignificant these explorations may seem at the time, they are crucial to a child's early development. But what of a child with physical disabilities who is unable to crawl or walk, or perhaps has difficulty holding or manipulating objects?

How often is that phrase 'she's into everything...' used to describe a toddler's first explorations of her world? Small children explore everything in their world all of the time, from the moment they open their eyes in the morning until they collapse into bed at night, and however insignificant these explorations may seem at the time, they are crucial to a child's early development. But what of a child with physical disabilities who is unable to crawl or walk, or perhaps has difficulty holding or manipulating objects?

'Even severe motor difficulties do not automatically mean learning difficulties,' says Judi Williams, co-ordinator for Support Services for Children with Physical Disabilities in Oxfordshire. 'But often specific learning difficulties later on may arise as a result of the lack of adequate physical experience of the world in the early years.

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