01651nas a2200169   4500000000100000008004100001653001600042653001500058653002600073653003100099653001400130100001500144700001300159245016900172520112600341022001401467       2015                            d10aIntegration10aDisability10aCommunity development10aChildren with disabilities10aAustralia1 aRobinson S1 aNotara D00aBuilding belonging and connection for children with disability and their families: a co-designed research and community development project in a regional community.3 a<p>Belonging and connection of children with disability and their families are contested and fragile in many regional communities. This article reports on a project that aimed to better understand and strengthen belonging and connection for young children with disability and their families within a regional Australian community. The project involved a series of community capacity building initiatives which were grounded in participatory research about facilitators and barriers to belonging and connection. It used co-design principles to involve children and their families in the research design and collection of information, and in the direction of project resources post-research. This article describes the research, reviews the effectiveness of the methods used to facilitate involvement of children with disability and family members at a range of points in the project, and discusses the innovative way the project extends participatory methods used in research into project management and community development with a group not often included in either participatory research or community development.</p>
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