(From left) Nuha Damanhoori Hilal, Kaminee Mahalingam and Sueveena Shalni are the co-founders of Giggles and Mess, a playgroup that brings neurodivergent and neurotypical children together. (Muhammad Rabbani Jamian @ FMT Lifestyle)

SUBANG JAYA: Only a few letters separate “neurodivergent” from “neurotypical”. However, in everyday life, the distance between the children those words describe can feel much greater.

Special-needs teachers Sueveena Shalni, Kaminee Mahalingam and Nuha Damanhoori Hilal hope to bring these children closer through Giggles and Mess, a playgroup where they can meet, have fun and make friends.

“We want to create a safe space where kids who are neurodivergent and neurotypical can just be themselves, where we don’t restrict them by saying, ‘Oh no, you must do this, this and this.’ Just have fun,” Sueveena, 28, told FMT Lifestyle.