Claudia Wirts

Claudia Wirts is a Research Associate in the field of physical-motor development at the University of Leipzig and the State Institute for Early Childhood Education and Media Competence in Munich. She holds a doctorate in speech-impaired education from PH-Heidelberg (2013) and has over two decades of experience in early childhood education, specializing in supported communication, language initiation for children with late speech onset, feeding therapy, and autism spectrum disorder interventions.

• Education: Master’s in Language Disability Education and Special Education Teaching (PH-Heidelberg, 2002); Ph.D. in Speech-Disabled Education (2013)

Her research focuses on interaction quality, inclusion, and accessibility in daycare settings. Current projects include DigiNet Inclusion (2023–2026), which develops digital infrastructure for inclusion in Saxony’s childcare facilities, and past initiatives like Inclusion vor Ort (2014–2018) and Raum für Inklusion (2021–2023). She has also led studies on team quality in U3 childcare sectors and contributed to national surveys like NUBBEK (2009–2011).

Her work emphasizes everyday-integrated language education, evidenced by her roles in BiSS-E1/BiSS-E2 evaluations (2015–2018) and the Dialogitalo project (2019–2023) on digital media in language support.