Foundation funds a resource to help communities plan play spaces for everyone //

Since 1979, the Special Needs Support Center of the Upper Valley has been a pillar in the disability community of New Hampshire and Vermont’s Upper Valley. Originally focused on advocacy and programming for adults and youth with disabilities, the Center expanded its mission to include advising communities like Hartford, Vermont, and Lebanon, New Hampshire on creating accessible and inclusive playgrounds for children with disabilities.

Dr. Kendra LaRoche, the Center’s Executive Director, emphasizes the distinction between accessibility and true inclusivity in playground design. While accessibility ensures physical access for children with disabilities, true inclusivity goes further to ensure that these children can play alongside their non-disabled peers. Many parks and recreation directors and playground design firms understand basic accessibility but often overlook the nuanced needs of inclusivity, such as providing equal play opportunities for all children regardless of their abilities.

Seemingly recognizing this, the New Hampshire Legislature passed a law in 2023 that requires public playgrounds in use on or after January 1, 2024 to have resilient solid surface materials for accessibility to the playground and each piece of equipment.

Accessible is not Inclusive

The New Hampshire law is well intentioned, but there’s a profound difference between a playground that is “accessible,” for a child using a wheelchair, for example, and a playground which is not only accessible, but is also designed to be inclusive so that a child using a wheelchair can play side by side with their non-disabled friends.

As a result, communities end up with designs that have great paths to play structures for a wheelchair to get there — but then only stairs or ladders leading to the slide or tree house feature.

“Inclusivity is not just about physical access,” Dr. LaRoche explains. “It’s about designing spaces where children of all abilities can engage together in meaningful play. This fosters a sense of belonging, where every child feels valued and integral to the play environment.”

Sharing Expertise

The New Hampshire playground accessibility law triggered Dr. LaRoche to look for support to expand her work.

“I saw a need and said, I now have developed this expertise by working with Lebanon and Hartford that could be shared more widely. So that’s why I applied for the grant from the New Hampshire Children’s Health Foundation,” she said.

One of the Foundation’s funding priorities is to promote access to community level physical activity for young children and families through policies or planning. The Foundation awarded the Center $20,000 in general operating support so that it could offer inclusive playground consulting to communities in New Hampshire.

“As a first time applicant, we were pleased to learn about the Special Needs Support Center of the Upper Valley,” says Foundation Program Director Patti Baum. “Kendra contacted me prior to submitting a grant application to talk about the organization’s approach to educating and informing the public about recent legislation.

“The Foundation board ultimately approved the application because it was a good fit for the strategy we’re seeking to support. In the months following the award, I was able to connect SNSC with another grant partner who was preparing a webinar for on a topic I knew Kendra could inform,” Baum added.

Dr. LaRoche’s efforts have already influenced five park projects, including those in Hillsborough and Concord.

“Inclusivity is not just about physical access,” Dr. LaRoche explains. “It’s about designing spaces where children of all abilities can engage together in meaningful play. This fosters a sense of belonging, where every child feels valued and integral to the play environment.”

The impact of inclusive playgrounds extends beyond physical structures. Dr. LaRoche advocates for sensory-friendly design elements that cater to children with sensory sensitivities, such as quieter play areas amidst stimulating environments. These considerations enhance the overall inclusivity of playgrounds, ensuring they meet the diverse needs of all children.

Paul Coates, Lebanon’s parks and recreation director, echoes the importance of inclusive playgrounds as a fundamental community asset. He believes that inclusive elements not only benefit children with disabilities but enrich the entire community by promoting diversity and inclusion in recreational spaces.

“It’s the right thing to do,” he says. “We always have a population that will never be able to visit a playground unless there are inclusive elements there. And inclusive elements don’t prohibit able-bodied folks from being able to enjoy them too.”

He continues, “If we’ve gained anything over the last several years in our discussions about what it means to be more inclusive and recognize diversity, and the basic need for everyone to be able to enjoy their community together, then a playground seems like an obvious place where that sort of thing can happen.”

“Our goal in inclusivity is ‘togetherness,’” Dr. LaRoche emphasizes. “To have a swing for a wheelchair on one side of the park and have all the other swings in a different place doesn’t really help. It’s accessible, but you’re not creating a circumstance in which children are going to play together.”

After the Center received the grant, Dr. LaRoche reached out New Hampshire Parks and Recreation directors via email. “My message was, ‘the New Hampshire Children’s Health Foundation has recognized the importance of inclusive playgrounds as well and has given you the opportunity to have this consulting for free.’” Dr. LaRoche says. “I got some great responses from my emails, like, ‘Wow. That’s incredible.’”

Dr. LaRoche notes that upgrading playgrounds is not inexpensive. Depending on the playground specifications, adding paths for accessibility alone may cost $100,000 and retrofitting play features to be inclusive to all can be several hundred thousand, although there’s not much difference in the initial cost of inclusive features if they are included in a playground’s initial design.

Designing for Belonging

Dr. LaRoche also makes it clear that there’s a difference between “inclusivity” and “belonging.”

“Inclusivity is when you’re welcomed to the door and then are brought the activity inside. But belonging is when that activity is actually planned with you in mind,” she says. “And if you didn’t show up, you’d be missed. That’s really at the core of what belonging is.”

The mother of a child with cerebral palsy recently emailed Dr. LaRoche to tell her about her son’s experience at the Marion Cross Playground at the elementary School in Norwich, Vermont and his excitement at being able to play on every single element in the playground using his wheelchair.

Link to accessible playground video

Before that playground existed, at recess he would go outside and would be wheeled to a particular section and sit there and watch all the other kids play. Now he’s able to go on every element and play alongside his friends. He feels he can belong at recess, that recess is no longer a time that separates him, but keeps him with his peers.

“Through their mission, SNSC embodies the Foundation’s funding priority to Promote access to community level physical activity for young children and families through policies or planning,” notes Patti Baum. “Creating access through equality for all is work the Foundation is pleased to support and highlight.”

For more information on inclusive playground design contact Dr. Kendra LaRoche, executive director, Special Needs Support Center of the Upper Valley at kendra@snsc-uv.org.