Improving communication and education for autistic children in Europe
Context
The UEFA Foundation for Children has decided to allocate its annual support grant for 2015 to a project designed to improve communication and education for autistic children in Europe. This project, submitted by the International Foundation of Applied Disability Research (FIRAH), has been approved by the Board of trustees of the foundation. Inspired by the innovative approach of the project, the UEFA Foundation for Children has adopted the words of Mahatma Gandhi to use as the slogan for the project:
Be the change that you wish to see in the world.
Thus the project to improve the lives of autistic children and their families, and to give them hope for the future.
What we are doing
The FIRAH is working with a number of partners to run this project: representatives of international and national associations for autistic children and their families; educational, social and medical services that come into contact with autistic children every day; and universities and research centres.
The project has three pillars:
- Facilitating access to the latest educational material and equipment such as robots and tablets, adapted to the specific needs of autistic children and their families.
- Training families and professionals working with autistic children so that they can help autistic children make use of new technology, with online guides and training available to families and professionals.
- Developing applied research projects to assess the impact new technology (robots, tablets, etc.) has on the every lives of autistic children in order to improve the equipment and apps available. All such research projects will involve the children, their parents and professionals to deliver concrete results based on the needs and expectations of autistic children and their families.
The project will be implemented chiefly in six European countries in order to keep it relatively local and focused on the real needs of families.
The children, their parents and professionals will be involved in evaluating the results.
Our partners
