No monkey business: Opportunities to support community participation of children and youth with disabilities through consultation with an urban zoo

Participation in extracurricular activities is essential to child development and is associated with greater life satisfaction and lower anxiety in children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD; Oberle et al., 2019). Recreational activities in the community facilitate opportunities for children with IDD to enhance self-efficacy, develop new skills, and form relationships (Chien et al., 2017). Community participation expands opportunities for play-based learning, which has been shown to support social-emotional and academic readiness skills, including literacy and numeracy (Fisher et al., 2013). Yet, compared to typically developing peers, children with disabilities have lower participation in both unstructured and organized physical activities and community events (Chien et al., 2017).