Teacher Training and Attention in Autism Erasmus Project

Project Title

Teacher Training and Attention in Autism

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 school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Disabilities – special needs; Inclusion – equity; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND:
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulties in social interaction and communication, repetitive and stereotyped interests and behaviours (American Psychiatric Association 2013) affecting as many as 1 in every 59 children (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2018). One aspect that appears less researched in autism is attention skills, although attention is often atypical in people with autism and is closely linked to academic attainment in this population. Technology has been found to be a powerful tool to teach a variety of skills in individuals with autism. Specifically, the Computerised Progressive Attention Training (CPAT; Shalev et al., 2007), has been shown to have far transfer effect in children with autism leading to improved academic performance.

OBJECTIVE:
The main objective of the project is to provide resources on the topic of attention in autism for teachers and professional working with children with autism. This form of knowledge transfer and capacity building is highly strategic in its potential impact on schools having children with autism and improving academic attainment in this population. More specifically, the project will generate three intellectual outputs:
– A report on best practice of attention in autism in the 4 participating countries (O1)
– A freely available cross-platform version of CPAT, a successful attention intervention programme (Shalev et al., 2007), together with a detailed implementation protocol that could be immediately used by teachers and practitioners across Europe (O2)
– A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) targeted at teacher professional development in the topic of attention in autism (in 4 languages) (O3)

NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS:
9 partners comprising 4 universities, 4 schools and a professional development body, from 4 countries (UK, Spain, Greece and Israel) have assembled to carry out the TTAA project. The researchers from the four universities provide complementary expertise in attention, intervention and development of educational technology in autism. The participating schools have extensive experience with children with autism and with experimental approaches to teaching, and the professional body has extensive experience in fostering professional development in the field of SEN.

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES:
The work on O1 will include two strands of data collection: i) Gathering published literature on the topic, and ii) soliciting of new data using questionnaires that will be delivered to practitioners in the four participating countries. These actions will build on the discussions during the first transnational meeting. The second intellectual output (O2) will include software development work which will incorporate user engagement and feedback and views of end-users both in terms of the tool design and the detailed implementation protocol. It will be further supported by a short-term teacher training activity (C1) on the topic of attention intervention in autism. For the third Intellectual Output (O3), the expertise of the project partners in developing and delivering training for teachers will be drawn upon in developing the content for the online course. The content will then be reviewed during the planned transnational meetings which will also assemble recorded material that will be included within the MOOC. 3 multiplier events will be conducted (Greece, Spain, UK) which will be aligned with the transnational meetings and the delivery of the intellectual outputs.

METHODOLOGY & RESULTS:
A participatory design will be followed in all phases of the TTAA project. The 3 intellectual outputs outlined above will be the main results of the project as well as a number of training events such as multiplier events and other local and international events during and after the end of the TTAA project. The partners will also have a strong media presence using press releases, social media, practitioner’s journals and academic journals.

IMPACT & LONG TERM BENEFITS:
The project is expected to have a considerable impact on the way children with autism are taught attention skills. It will also influence the way teachers perceive the concept of attention and its impact on autism with the potential of improving academic attainment and inclusion for this population. Our activities in teacher training in the UK along those lines have so far yielded similar outcomes and we expect this to happen on a much larger scale through the TTAA project. On the long term, participants from the four partner countries and the rest of the world will have free and unlimited access to a range of sources which have been evidenced to improve attention skills in individuals with autism. These sources will be a complete package as they will include training material (O3), a report reviewing the state of the art on attention training in autism (O1) and the actual software and guidelines for its implementation (O2).

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 292487 Eur

Project Coordinator

THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM & Country: UK

Project Partners

• 1st 12thesio Ralleion Peiramatikon Dimotikon Sxoleion
• Weizman School
• PANEPISTIMIO DYTIKIS MAKEDONIAS
• ASOCIACIÓN DE PADRES Y FAMILIARES DE PERSONAS CON TRASTORNOS DEL ESPECTRO DEL AUTISMO DE AVILA Y SU PROVINCIA
• National Association of Special Educational Needs
• UNIVERSITAT DE VALENCIA
• Rookery School