Blog 13 May 2024

Houses4Autism: Supportive houses as a home classroom for people with autism to build their independent living

Discover how our innovative project is revolutionizing support for autistic adults in coping with everyday challenges through immersive VR environment

ZOI TOUTOUNTZIDOU

About the project:

This project aims to develop the Houses4Autism Educational Toolkit including a Curriculum & Handbook and a VR interactive game to increase the knowledge, skills, and key competencies of adult educators to train individuals with autism and help them through simulations of creating environments at home on the one hand, and following everyday living situations on the other, to develop their daily living skills and live independently without the support of their parents or guardians, nurses' or carers' supervision.

Independent living is a basic human right that enables individuals with disabilities to determine where they live, who they live with, and what kind of support they receive. Recently, there has been a burgeoning interest in supportive housing, and the impact on experiences of home for people with disabilities (Owen &McCann, 2018). Individuals with high-functioning autism (ASD) have specific needs, and attempting to live independently, is a challenge for them due to their complex and idiosyncratic characteristics (Ghanouni, 2021).

Main outcomes:

An evidence-based report on the status of supportive housing for individuals with autism, needs analysis.
A Comprehensive Curriculum for Adult Educators.
Handbook for adult educators/trainers
A VR game with interactive scenarios simulating real home environments
A complete educational Toolkit for Adults Educators/Trainers and Individuals with Autism

Our First Meeting:

On Friday, March 22nd, STANDO LTD hosted the kick-off meeting in Cyprus, Nicosia where our consortium partners from Ireland, Cyprus, North Macedonia, Italy, and Denmark came together to discuss the exciting plans ahead.

The consortium delved into various aspects including project management, dissemination, sustainability, and evaluation plans. But the highlight was undoubtedly diving into the next steps of our research to deliver WP2: an evidence-based report on the status of supportive housing for individuals with autism, along with a comprehensive needs analysis.