We’re excited to announce the launch of our new project, ‘
Neurodiversity and Inclusion in the Childminding Workforce’, which has been developed with Three Sisters Consultancy and will focus on supporting and understanding neurodiversity amongst childminders in Scotland, as well as SCMA staff. This is very much in response to demand from members who have been increasingly contacting us to ask that we produce our materials in more accessible formats to support their neurodivergence.
Three Sisters Consultancy is a neurodivergent led organisation which will be providing training, research and development support that will allow us to capture data on neurodivergence in the childminding workforce.
About Neurodiversity:
- Neurodiversity is the term that explains the natural variation in everyone’s brain and celebrates that we all experience the world, access information and learn differently. Neurodiverse groups include neurotypical people and neurodivergent people.
- Neurodivergent is the term we use to describe people who do not fit into the neurotypical ‘norm’. Examples of neurodivergent people include autistic people, people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or people with dyslexia.
What do we want to achieve through the project?
We are already working on increasing recruitment and retainment of childminders across Scotland and we know from our members that neurodiversity is a topic people want to learn more about.
We want to capture data from both our membership and those coming into our workforce on the extent of neurodiversity (both diagnosed and undiagnosed) in order to explore
how we can support our neurodivergent childminders in their learning and practice, increase awareness and reduce stigma. No data currently exists on this in Scotland.
How will we do this?
We have a strategic approach which includes:
- Equality monitoring and in-depth survey of SCMA members: initial data will be captured on neurodivergence from participants in the Programme for Scotland’s Childminding Future national programme, then extended to our wider membership to understand how neurodivergence can affect daily life including day to day practice, accessing learning and registration and documentation to enable us to increase our support provided.
- Establishing a lived experience panel of neurodivergent SCMA members and staff to inform and guide the work.
- Conducting a literature review on neurodivergence and childminding to find out what we already know about neurodiversity within the sector.
- The development of a workplace policy on neurodiversity for SCMA staff.
- Learning courses on neurodivergence for SCMA members and staff
Graeme McAlister, Chief Executive of SCMA, said: “We are delighted to be collaborating on this important initiative with the Three Sisters Consultancy. The prevalence of neurodivergence is thought to be about 15-20% in the general population and we could take this as a rough indication of its prevalence within different professional groups and apply it to teachers, childminders or other workforces. But, this would be quite crude and we just don’t know how accurate this would be. Also, we are aware that this estimate could under-report the actual level of prevalence if only focusing on those who have been diagnosed. This is why we believe it important to attempt to capture, for the first time in Scotland, baseline data on the extent of neurodivergence within the childminding workforce, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, and to develop appropriate materials to support learning and practice”.
Corrie Mclean, Three Sisters Consultancy, said: “We are really excited to be working with SCMA on this new project, which has an ‘inside-out’ approach to inclusion. This project will help us gauge not only how neurodiversity impacts our roles as childminders, but also provide valuable insight into the strengths and challenges neurodivergent childminders experience as part of their role. Having input from our lived experience panel and providing training that gives practical knowledge and support tools which support practitioners, children and their families.
"As a neurodivergent led organisation, we know the importance of reducing stigma, raising awareness and have personal experience of our neurodivergent children being superbly supported by childminders on a daily basis.“
Further information and next steps
This project began in February 2026 and is expected to continue for about 15 months.
We will keep members updated on progress and opportunities to get involved – if you have any queries or want to express interest in joining the Lived Experience Panel, please email
information@childminding.org.