Our Work
The main objective of the project “IPA+, Inclusion of people with autism in Europe. Towards a specialized training model for professionals” is to develop a basic training of reference for all professionals working with people on the autism spectrum – independently of their area of knowledge – which responds to the aforementioned gaps, the demands of the society in general and of this group of population and their families.
The specific objectives of the project are:
- To know the curricular requirements for a course addressed to professionals working with autistic people;
- To define the basic knowledge and competences about autism that every professional must have for a competent and satisfactory care based on the previous research;
- To design a new training and work based learning for the development of competent professionals from different fields;
- To implement this training in a sample of professionals in different countries participating in the project;
- To evaluate the quality of the course;
- To make freely available all project outputs for potential users and stakeholders through the development of a toolkit;
- To hold national and international conferences for disseminating the project outputs;
- To establish a network of people working on Autism Spectrum Disorders projects for knowledge exchange and co-creation.
Main outputs
IPA+ project is structured in several phases to achieve different outputs and results:
- IO1 – Research on curricular and training requirements.
Aimed to carry out a research through primary and secondary resources about the curricular requirements for a training addressed to professionals working with autistic people.
- IO2 – Curriculum design
Aimed to provide a curriculum with agreed goals and contents for the development of the subsequent learning modules (IO3) and for the course implementation (IO4).
- IO3 – Development of learning modules.
Aimed to create learning modules for the course.
- IO4 – Implementation and validation of the course.
Aimed to implement the course according to the curriculum and learning modules in Burgos (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal) and Belgrade (Serbia).
- IO5 – Toolkit for course delivery
Aimed to serve as a set of instructions and supporting documents in order other professionals – out of the project consortium – interested in the course can implement it easily and independently.
- IO6 – Dissemination
Aimed to assure a quality and potential diffusion of the project information and products along the different target groups identified and relevant stakeholders.
Target Groups
MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROFESSIONALS
The direct target group of IPA+ is multidisciplinary professionals currently working – or expected in a near future – in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorders or that can deal with them tangentially. The learning products to be developed within the project will be appropriate, for instance, to: a) recent graduated with an interest in working with autistic people; b) people with background in the care or educative field willing to improve and increase their skills; or c) professionals with previous experience in autism but lacking training through specific courses.
Through the training developed and implemented during the project life – which will be also available after its conclusion – there will be more professionals with autism competences and skills. So, as indirect target groups, people on the autism spectrum and their families will also benefit from an increased supply of trained professionals able to adequately cover their needs and promote their quality of life.
