Physical and sensory environment interventions to support children’s social and emotional development in early childhood education and care settings: a systematic review

Educators’ perspectives on the role the early childhood education and care environment plays in supporting children’s social and emotional development

“…In preschool settings, the sensory environment can influence whether autistic children will prefer or avoid an activity, and can be used as a tool to support participation in ECEC programs (Piller & Pfeiffer, 2016). However, at present, there is limited understanding of the effect that universal sensory environment interventions have on all children's social and emotional development (Tamblyn et al, 2023). While sensory processing challenges may account for more extreme reactions to sensory stimuli in some children, for all children attending ECEC services, sensitivity to the environment differs between individuals.…”

“…Research suggests, educators enhance children’s social and emotional development through educator-child relationships in partnership with families, and use the physical environment to support social and emotional learning opportunities (Blewitt et al, 2021). Despite this, a systematic review, capturing studies from Canada, Italy, Romania, and the United States, found that minimal educator implemented physical and sensory environment interventions to support preschool children’s social and emotional development have been evaluated since 2000 (Tamblyn et al, 2023). Hence, the aim of this paper was to explore educators’ perspectives on the role the physical and sensory ECEC environment plays in supporting children’s social and emotional development.…”