About Reach & Match

Belonging is built through shared learning and play.

Reach & Match is a design-led inclusive education organisation. We develop research-informed, play-based systems that enable children with and without disabilities to participate and build strong foundations for school readiness together.

We work across classrooms, therapy settings, homes, and humanitarian contexts, partnering with educators and organisations to translate inclusion into everyday practice.

Founder story

Reach & Match® was founded by Mandy Lau, an award-winning designer, researcher, and social innovator with a long-standing commitment to inclusive education.

In classrooms, Mandy repeatedly saw:

children with disabilities present, yet not fully participating, watching while others played, explored, and learned together.

This exclusion was rarely intentional. It reflected a system design problem: environments and tools were not built for differences. Educators were left to adapt and compensate. Children were expected to fit in. The system itself remained unchanged.

Early childhood is where this gap matters most, as foundations for communication, movement, regulation, literacy, and belonging are formed largely through shared play and interaction.

Originally developed through postgraduate research in 2010, Reach & Match emerged as a design response to this gap. What followed was not a single product, but years of observation, testing, redesign, and collaboration to develop a structured, curriculum-aligned program across classrooms, therapy settings, and community programs.

The work continued because it made a difference in practice. Children participated. Educators felt supported. Learning and play began to happen together.

That commitment to staying, listening, and designing responsibly over time defines Reach & Match today. It is a practice grounded in evidence, shaped by real world use, and guided by a clear belief.

Inclusion should be built into the systems we rely on, not left to adaptation or goodwill.

Designing for how children learn

Reach & Match is grounded in human-centred and universal design principles, informed by how young children actually learn.

Early learning is embodied, sensory, social, and physical. Young children learn through their bodies through movement, touch, interaction, and play with others. Supporting diverse developmental and sensory needs requires environments that offer multiple ways to engage, without relying on digital interfaces.

Our approach is intentionally non-digital and open-ended. This does not replace therapy or assistive technology, which play an important role for many children. Rather, Reach & Match focuses on shared learning environments where children explore movement, relationships, and participation through everyday play.

The design does the work of inclusion. Materials and activities are carefully designed so children with different abilities can engage at their own level and develop key milestones together through play, exploration, and social connection.

Across education and humanitarian contexts

While educators remain at the heart of our work, Reach & Match has also been proven in complex low resource environments, including education in emergencies.

Through relational trust, deep listening, and collaboration with organisations such as Save the Children, UNICEF, and World Vision, we have demonstrated that the same inclusive system supporting mainstream classrooms can also function where infrastructure is limited, training demands are high, and adaptability is essential.

Rather than delivering a product alone, we work alongside partners to co-design implementation approaches that respond to local realities, ensuring sustainability, ownership, and meaningful inclusion in diverse contexts.