This article explores the processes that facilitate interaction between children with unequal prerequisites for communication. Empirical examples are gathered from Norwegian schools and kindergartens. Some of the children in the study have hearing impairment in combination with intellectual disability. The examples demonstrate how these children make use of culturally imparted "play formats". These formats have a narrative structure; they are repeated and varied throughout the interaction. They consist of interchangeable roles and are dialogically organized. Participation is enabled through intersubjective processes that are situated in these play formats. The article describes how divergent communicative resources can interact in intersubjective processes that facilitate communication. The deep structures in the play formats, imparted through child culture, have a scaffolding function in communicative processes.