One Child’s Play, Another’s Trauma: Early Childhood Conference 2026

Dr Ruyi Tong presented alongside Seb Della Maddalena of Haven OT and Play Matters Collective at the Early Childhood Conference 2026 held on October 3^rd 2026. The conference, themed Future Ready Begins with Play, was hosted by Network Teach at Murdoch University.

The session was called One Child’s Play, Another’s Trauma. This is what we covered.

The same activity, two different children

We opened with a scene every early childhood educator knows. The water table is out. For one child it is the best five minutes of the day. For another it is the moment everything falls apart.

It is the same activity in the same room. So why the difference?

Play depends on feeling safe

Play only happens when a child’s nervous system feels safe. When the body senses a threat, it shifts automatically into fight, flight or shutdown, and play becomes much harder.

A child who runs from an activity, or goes quiet and still, is not being defiant. Their nervous system is protecting them.

Behaviour is communication. The question for the adult in the room changes from “how do I stop this?” to “what is this child telling me?”

Four practical strategies for educators

1. Understand each child’s sensory profile. Adapt the materials, not the child.
2. Build calm spaces and predictable routines into the room. A child who knows what happens next, and where to go when it is too much, has more capacity to join in.
3. Use visuals, and offer real choices instead of demands. Visuals show a child what is expected without relying on spoken language alone. A real choice gives them a way in on their own terms.
4. Allow processing time, and use comments rather than commands. Pause after you speak. Describe what is happening instead of directing it.

Three takeaways

1. Behaviour is nervous-system information, not defiance.
2. Inclusion means building in more than one way in from the start.
3. When educators, families and therapists work together, “problem behaviour” can become participation.

Thank you

Thank you to Network Teach, Murdoch University and every educator who joined us. Thank you also to Seb Della Maddalena for co-presenting.

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