News and Knowledge

According to a recent study cited in Spectrum News, about one in five adults with autism is unemployed. A research project, funded by a $1.1 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, aims to help change those prospects by introducing young students to career opportunities and building new skills. The research team created IDEAS, which stands for Inventing, Designing, and Engineering on the Autism Spectrum, a program that prepares middle-school students, specifically including those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), for careers as inventors, designers, and engineers.

Launched in 2016 in three schools in New York City, IDEAS caters to students’ interests and strengths. For example, notes a Spectrum News article about the program, if a student has an interest in anime, a style of Japanese animation, they might learn how to design an anime character on a computer and then to create a figurine of the character using a 3-D printer. As noted in the article, the program is particularly promising in that it connects students to technology and skills that they may be able to use professionally when the time comes.

In the 2017-18 school year, 49 students participated, 25 of whom were on the autism spectrum.

How It Works

Students meet during lunch or after school at least once a week for 10 weeks each semester. They learn skills related to design and engineering, like woodworking, 3-D printing, and laser cutting. They also learn engineering design principles: how to build, test, and alter a prototype until it’s successful.

Several weeks into the program, they choose a project. A student with an interest in World War II and European empires, for example, created a game, notes the Spectrum News article. He created rules for play and a wooden game board shaped like a map of Europe and laser cut more than 150 game pieces.

Because collaboration is an integral part of the program, students also learn social, communication, and organizational skills as they work. Initial data gathered during the program’s first year from focus groups and structured observations showed positive results, including an increased frequency of social initiations. IDEAS researchers particularly wanted to know if the students with autism would initiate social interactions with others so that they would know if the program had an impact on social skills.

Program’s Future

The NSF grant funding will end in 2019, by which time the program in New York City should be self-sustaining, according to one of the researchers quoted in Spectrum News. The research team hopes to expand the program beyond the participating three schools and to a broader age range.

IDEAS has had a steady increase in participants since its initial start date in 2016. In 2017, 14 students with autism and 23 students without autism participated in the program. In 2018, the program expanded to include 25 students with autism and 24 students without autism. The 1.2 million dollar NSF grant has helped with the program’s implementation and growth; although this pilot grant ends in 2019, the program should sustain itself by then.

IDEAS teaches all of the participating students social, engineering, and practical skills, which are valuable for any young person, and especially useful for students with ASD. The program is helping lay a foundation for future success by introducing students to possible career interests from an early age.