It’s old news that the first 5 years of life offer an extraordinary window of development for every child.

For children with disabilities, early identification and skilled support during these years can change the entire trajectory of their lives.

Doors to communication, mobility and development can be opened that allow children with disabilities to participate in family life, learn in school and be meaningfully included in their community.

But when those same doors fail to be opened in the first 5 years, they often remain closed for far too long.

Early intervention delivers compelling returns also for societies reducing healthcare and education costs over a lifetime. It also enables greater workforce participation for parents and eventually for children with disabilities themselves as they grow into adulthood.

Yet children with disabilities face barriers across every part of the early years system: from healthcare services that fail to screen for developmental needs, to preschools where 1 in 4 children with disabilities cannot access a place, to family support systems that overlook the added costs families must shoulder.

Theirworld’s new report, All Means All: A Call for Disability-Inclusive Early Years Financing, highlights the stark reality facing young children and their families.

Children with disabilities are 25% less likely to attend preschool than their peers and 49% more likely never to attend school at all.

When young children with disabilities do make it into a classroom, teachers are often unequipped to adapt the curriculum and environment to fit their learning needs and engage their families.

Across Perkins’ country programs, families regularly describe the burden caused by fragmented systems: multiple appointments, unclear referral pathways and inconsistent expectations between health and education providers.

We know exactly how to do better. Perkins and Theirworld, along with organizations like UNICEF, the LEGO Foundation and regional early childhood care and education networks have joined forces through the Act For Early Years campaign because we share a conviction for early childhood care and education: universal must mean universal.

Unlocking potential in the early years

Perkins’ work with ministries of education and health has consistently demonstrated that teacher training and early intervention systems are the hinge point for success to support children with disabilities.

In countries such as Mexico and Indonesia, incorporating functional vision assessment, universal design principles and inclusive pedagogy into standard teacher preparation have delivered measurable improvements in children’s participation during the early years.

Financing to ensure education for all means all in the early years

As advanced by GPE’s 5^th financing campaign, education is the smartest investment we can make to transform systems to build a better future every girl and boy.

With the right investments, young children with disabilities can receive the screenings and support they need early so that they begin school with confidence and independence, ready to participate fully alongside their peers.

Families of children with disabilities can move from coping to thriving within schools and communities that welcome and intentionally create an environment accessible to every child.

That is why we will convene the first ever International Financing Summit on Early Years in 2027.

Throughout 2026, governments will participate in national consultations engaging disability rights organizations, civil society and families to develop quality commitments.

Regional finance dialogues will showcase best practices while mobilizing political champions. By 2027, these efforts can create a shared vision, and a shared responsibility, for transforming early years financing so that inclusion is no longer an afterthought.

The question is not whether change is possible, but whether we will seize this once in a generation opportunity to ensure all means all for every child, from their earliest days.

Read Theirworld’s “All Means All” paper.