an innovative escape game to “enhance inclusive dynamics”

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Get involved, innovate, challenge preconceived ideas. This is what the people involved in theassociation Positive Lab in Roubaix (North). All in the service of “growing better”. In 2024, the team transformed disability awareness, aimed at early childhood stakeholders, into a escape-gamereversing the traditional “learning + exercise” training modules. Nelly Logez-Deschamps, coordinator of the association and researcher in educational sciences, presents this innovative deviceprovided in Hauts-de-France.

“Play training” to approach disability differently

The coordinator of the association recalls the mission of the structure: “to innovate in the service of growing well”. This through two main poles: Plural awakeninga disability resource center which works for inclusion financed by the CAF, and The Housea resource place dedicated to families in Roubaix.

The association's stakeholders work to change the classic spectrums in minds and in society, to increasingly include people with disabilities, from early childhood. To do this, a “ training to play pour address disability » was put together by the association. “We want to promote inclusive dynamics,” shares Nelly Logez-Deschamps.

Training enriched over time

Where did this idea come from? From the field. The association provided training over two days. During a performance, its representatives received very positive feedback from Pierre Danckaert, educational manager of N'JOY (ïDKids). Following this, the team set itself a challenge: to further modernize the training, to think about it differently. “The idea was to create an escape game, but thought of more like an 'inclusive game'”, relates the coordinator of the structure. The concepts taught in training were used in a scenario serving the participantsall early childhood professionals.

“Supervillains who prevent inclusion”

In this game, which can be followed by 20 people at the same time, the participants face a problem. “The news is bad. Supervillains in society want to prevent inclusion. The knowledge of inclusion is locked in gems,” describes the association’s representative. Players must solve mysteries, designed around seven universal needs of the child.

“You already know how to do it”

Faced with people working in early childhood and who sometimes fear “not knowing how to do it, blocked by fear”, skills are highlighted through this game. Nelly Logez-Descamps praises its main virtue. “We train educators, people who are in contact with children. »

The goal is to make them understand, through play, that they already have the keys in hand. We tell them in a way 'you already know how to do it'.

“Usually, we provide training by giving concepts, then we play a game to apply these lessons. Here it's the opposite. Those who follow the game realize that they already have the skills. »

Let go of your representations

The goal of this game is to allow those who follow it to “let go of their representations, to free themselves from them,” continues the Positive Lab coordinator. “A child is a child, above all. » The association wants more generally to defend the idea that the world can naturally become more inclusive: this if each daily actor takes his part – the child, the parent, the professional, the individual. “It creates a virtuous loop, which can change everything. »

Several structures have understood this, since funders have been involved in the project since its beginnings, notably the network of Rigolo comme la vie crèches, or the Handicap et Société fund.

Quality material to send a positive signal

The next step for the association is to equip itself with quality equipment for this training: a large photocallwooden cubes instead of foam ones for the beginning… “By taking care of everything, we send a positive message, that disability is beautiful too. We can say that it is beauty in the service of truth. »

L’association a several sessions planned for 2025in Hauts-de-France. She approached politicians to give more scope to the concept. “If politicians take hold of it, it can make a difference,” shares Nelly Logez-Deschamps. At a time when each structure is “doing what it can” to apply the laws in force regarding disability, in-depth work is being carried out assiduously to change our vision of things. This is to allow disability to find a new place in society. At the heart of things, not on the sidelines.

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