The IDEAL Erasmus+ project started in 2022 to address the lack of accessible online tools, trained professionals and educational methodologies adapted to autistic people in need of a high level of support. It will develop an adapted Learning Management System for Vocational Education and Training (VET) that will be fully accessible for autistic people. It will integrate educational methodologies to evaluate different digital tools according to their usefulness for autistic people.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need of making online and virtual educational services available and accessible to autistic people. IDEAL partners will work to eliminate the digital gap experienced by autistic people with high support needs in VET contexts.
IDEAL will facilitate autonomous equal access to digital technologies to guarantee the continuity of autistic people education and their social and personal development. It will support learning including when home schooling is compulsory, as it was the case during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The pathway to digital readiness of autistic people, their families and education professionals requires:
- Accessible digital technologies (training platforms) that facilitate training, learning and personal development for people in need of high level of support
- Specialized training for education professionals in the use of these technologies.
Concretely, IDEAL has three practical objectives that will guide the development of the project:
- To develop a Learning Management System (LMS) following accessibility requirements for autistic students.
- To evaluate different digital tools according to their usefulness for autistic students following a person-centered approach
- To deliver a methodology for digital training
Seven partners come together to develop and implement IDEAL: the coordinator, University of Burgos (Spain), Fundación Miradas (Spain), Fondacija hiljadu želja (Serbia), FPDA – Portuguese Federation for Autism (Portugal), Tady to mám rád (Czech Republic), Abadía Tecnológica (Spain) and Autism-Europe (Belgium)
More about Erasmus+
Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. It has an estimated budget of €26.2 billion. The 2021-2027 programme places a strong focus on social inclusion, the green and digital transitions, and promoting young people’s participation in democratic life.