Non-formal learning Activities for Autistic Teenagers in Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Non-formal learning Activities for Autistic Teenagers in Europe

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Access for disadvantaged; Disabilities – special needs

Project Summary

The three partner organizations of the project, Asociación Mi Hijo y Yo (Canary Islands, Spain), NCD (Cyprus), and Autisme Europe (Belgium), collaborated on this project to explore the benefits that non-formal learning activities bring to autistic adolescents, confronting and learning from the good practices and work methodologies that each of these organizations implements in their countries. The objective of this collaboration has been the implementation of inclusion initiatives aimed at adolescents on the autism spectrum that are always more fruitful and effective.

Specifically, the objectives of the project have been the following:

– Capacity-building activities for youth workers, to enable them to develop their skills in non-formal learning activities with autistic teenagers. In this way, the project has promoted the social inclusion of autistic adolescents through the implementation of more inclusive non-formal learning activities by partner associations and other European associations.
– Improve the access of autistic adolescents to youth activities in order to promote the development of their social skills, which allows them, among other things, easier integration into the labor market.
– Promote better knowledge about the situation of young people with autism and about efficient inclusion methodologies.

The activities that have allowed the achievement of these objectives have been:
– Organization of staff training events (capacity building activities) so that youth workers from different European countries (Spain, Cyprus and Belgium) could observe, learn and exchange good practices on different youth work methodologies implemented with autistic adolescents.
– Publication of a booklet of good practices entitled “Booklet of good practices for the inclusion of autistic teenagers in non-formal learning activities”. It is a compilation of good practices put in place by the partner organizations of the project and by other European organizations that work with young people with autism. The booklet aims to raise awareness about the importance of non-formal learning activities for autistic adolescents and their effectiveness, and at the same time it wants to be a catalog from where youth workers from all over Europe can get ideas on inclusive activities, with comments and feedback for that can be implemented and improved.
– Creation of an online platform to upload ideas for inclusive activities and get feedback from other youth workers in other countries on their implementation.

The project has been carried out in a transnational way because it has included the observation, the exchange of ideas and the comparison of ways of working of different systems and cultures, allowing the participants to learn from each other and acquire new skills thanks to the exchange of good practices.

The project had a great impact directly on the participating organizations, their youth workers and therefore on the young people who participate in its activities. The youth workers involved improved the competencies linked to their professional profiles, such as the ability to implement innovative non-formal learning activities and had the possibility to see the work methodologies of other European countries. Thanks to these skills and experiences acquired, as revealed from the focus groups organized within the framework of the project, the participants feel that they have increased their motivation and satisfaction in their daily work and have also improved their professional profile. The partner organizations, more generally, benefited from the project as they were able to work in a more transnational dimension and improve their skills when collaborating with partners from other countries. To reach a wider number of beneficiaries of the project activities, namely other European organizations that work with young people with disabilities, partners made available in English the Booklet of good practices, as a way to share also outside the project Consortium the exchange of good practices generated within the project. These activities can be an example for other organizations that want to implement an innovative approach in addressing the inclusion of youth with disabilities. Within the project activities, an online collaboration platform was also created, in the form of a Facebook group, to allow youth workers, professionals and other organizations working with youth to share experiences and discuss the role of non-formal activities in the inclusion of young people with autism. Finally, the project, thanks to its dissemination actions, made it possible to raise awareness of the importance of inclusion in leisure moments and non-formal activities of young people with disabilities.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 37059 Eur

Project Coordinator

Asociación Mi Hijo y Yo & Country: ES

Project Partners

• N.C.D. Calloway Continuing Education Limited
• AUTISME-EUROPE AISBL