Children with special educational needs can join in and make friends more easily as 300 playgrounds throughout the UK become more inclusive

A trip to the park can be challenging and lonely for children with additional needs who may struggle with verbal communication. To prevent that, councils around the country are installing hundreds of playground communication boards to ensure any child – even those who struggle to communicate verbally – can ask a friend to join them on the climbing frame or play on the swings.

The unveiling of the 300^th playground communication board was celebrated yesterday in Luton. A group of preschoolers with special educational needs and their families took part in a multi-sensory story time and welly walk in Wardown Park.

Sue White, head of Education at Widgit, said: “Up to 14 million people in the UK experience communication difficulties at some point in their lives. Asking a friend to play a game or go on the roundabout together can be challenging if children are non-speaking or have language and communication difficulties. To help overcome this, we have created a range of bespoke playground communication boards for councils around the country. They feature picture symbols, large visual illustrations of typical playground vocabulary like climbing frame, sharing, feeling cold and having a picnic.”

Having access to these boards in parks means that a child who finds it hard to communicate or has limited vocabulary can indicate what they like and dislike. Just by pointing to the relevant symbols, they can communicate their needs, wants and interests. They can share whether they want to carry on playing a game with a friend or stop and have a snack.

The children had a chance to experience the story ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ in an interactive way with water, soil, foam balls and ribbons to represent different parts of the story including a large dark tent for a cave with a bear inside. The children enacted the scenes from the story and went on their own welly walk through long wavy grass and thick oozy mud.

They took part in a scavenger hunt and searched for items from the story and nature around them. Visual resources from Widgit supported them so all children could join in, whatever their needs. The trail led them to the playground where they used the new playground communication board for the first time.

Councillor Khtija Malik, portfolio holder for public health at Luton council, said: “It was a pleasure to see the children using the new playground communication board. This board, and the five others to be rolled out in our most popular parks this week, will improve inclusion and accessibility.

“We couldn’t have done it without a collaborative approach across Luton and the help of our partners Flying Start, Bedfordshire Community Speech and Language Service, the Luton Parks team and the Early Years Alliance. Together we worked with symbol experts at Widgit to make this happen. For us, this is just the beginning, and we look forward to more playground communication boards to come in the future.”

For more information on the symbols and resources Widgit has developed for families and to sign up for a free trial of its software for creating symbols, visit www.widgit.com.

About Widgit

For over 40 years, Widgit has developed innovative symbols and software used in over 10,000 schools, thousands of homes and multiple healthcare and leisure settings to support language, communication and learning. Widgit Symbols are increasingly being used to ensure key public services, local attractions and sporting venues are inclusive for children and adults with special needs.

For more information, visit: www.widgit.com.

For more information about Luton Family Hubs and the communication boards, please visit https://familyhubs.luton.gov.uk/home-learning-communication.