In late May, the EMPOWER project consortium, which includes Autism-Europe, gathered in Brussels for the final partner meeting before the big rollout of its main output – a learning platform for children with neurological developmental conditions – in September.
The EMPOWER project explores how technology-augmented education can support the development of neurodivergent children, especially via the use of computer games. These games are designed to help neurodivergent children make decisions more easily, better regulate their emotions, and reduce their anxiety, all of which should improve their academic performance and, more importantly, their general wellbeing. The interdisciplinary research project is led by the University of Valencia (Spain).
The meeting in Brussels spanned two days, during which partners shared their work progress and discussed the way forward, particularly once the EU-funded period of the project ends this October.
The project consortium includes members of nine different organizations or institutions, all of whom presented the work accomplished since the last meeting, which was held in Lisbon in October 2024. All partners reported being on track to meet all deadlines of the project, both for the public launch of the learning platform and the delivery of mandatory reports to the funding agency.
A representative from ISCTE-IUL (Lisbon) reported on the progress of two randomized controlled trials held in the past few months, one in Portugal, one in Romania. The trials are still ongoing, but results will be available soon. Teachers so far are very enthusiastic about using the EMPOWER platform with their neurodivergent students, according to the team members who are conducting the trials. The tool seems to meet a real need, as the number of interested teachers exceeded the available trial slots.
Other consortium members presented information related to the machine-learning components of the platform, with regards to both improvements that had been made in its performance and student privacy issues that had been addressed or improved. The machine-learning function is used to suggest the appropriate level of the game to a student based on their previous performance in the game.
Also discussed were the questionnaires for upcoming focus group interviews, the performance of the eye-tracking feature of the platform, and the input of the ethics committee attached to the project.
One topic was raised repeatedly throughout the two days: how to sustain the platform once public funding for the project ends. All partners agreed that every effort needs to be made to keep the platform available and updated, and to continue to train teachers on its use. The feedback from schools and preliminary results by the project’s academics show that the tool can truly help neurodivergent students.
Several ideas were floated on how to achieve sustainability – the main concern being that the platform needs to stay accessible to all regardless of family income or school budgets.
The tools created by the EMPOWER project are scheduled to be available in September. They will be presented, among other places, at the 14th Autism-Europe International Congress, which will be held in Dublin on 11-13 September 2025.
The consortium thanks all representatives for this productive meeting and looks forward to seeing many of the partners at the congress in Dublin.