Welcome to the video for the ITEST project,  IDEAS: Inventing, designing and engineering on the autism spectrum. My colleagues and I would love to get your feedback on what we're doing. I am particularly interested to hearing from those of you who have done collaborative co-design projects. We have a fantastic team that we've worked with, and I want to learn more from others about how to scale this kind of work to new schools and districts. If you have thoughts about that, or anything else about this project, we'll be happy to hear from you.

I love that your project is working to increase inclusivity in making. This is an important perspective. Your video highlights a wonderful partnership between EDC, NYU, and NY Hall of Science. It is inspiring to hear the new perspectives that teachers gain from watching their students make. Great work.

Thanks Shelly!

Thanks for sharing your work! I love seeing such highly collaborative projects that recognize the importance of diverse expertise and perspectives, and that raise awareness of the importance of developing resources to help program facilitators/teachers better include youth on the spectrum. Can you talk a bit about your pilot period to test your adaptations? What are some big take-aways from that phase of the study, and how did the team incorporate them into the next phase of work?

Thank you for showcasing such a worthwhile program.  I had previously not been familiar with the ASD NEST Program.  What a great partnership you have developed with New York University through the IDEAS program.  This is the first STEM related program I have seen that targets students on the autism spectrum.   From my own classroom experience, I can attest to the creativity and different way of thinking and doing by students on the autism spectrum.  A program such as this, will foster that creativity and potentially tap into skills and metacognitive thinking that could go undiscovered.  

Hi Sarah, thanks for your question. Our pilot phase is almost done. One big take away is that the participating teachers were very capable of doing the adapted program this year, with the support of our engineering graduate students. I think this was because:

1. they saw the whole program conducted last year in their school by a the NY Hall of Science maker expert, which allowed them to understand how to do the program with the resources available to them at their school, and they saw the power of playing the role of facilitator rather than instructor,

2. they had multiple rounds of training in making and in the adapted curriculum, and

3. they were involved in the development of the adaptations that were made, and

4, they always had the engineering grad students to turn to if they needed help.

It's so important to involve all the stakeholders, especially the educators, from the beginning because they know better than anyone what their students need to be successful. It's also essential to encourage them to have a maker mentality, and show the students that they can iterate on the program just as their students iterate on their projects. 

Thanks for your response, Wendy! I was recently involved in a research-practice project that asked how we might make high school CS more accessible for youth with learning disabilities and ADHD, and our expert practitioner & HS student side of the team was absolutely essential to even beginning to address that question, so I agree completely. As someone who also works with adults on the spectrum, these types of learning and making opportunities are such a great fit for so many diverse minds. Happy to see this work happening!

Thanks Michael and Sarah! I have been amazed not only by the projects but also the interactions and conversations I get to hear and take part in as a researcher on this project. It's been so much fun working with these creative kids.

Wendy, Kristie, and Sylvia:  I absolutely LOVE your project and the collaborative, constructive community you're fostering across student ability.  This will certainly have a long-lasting impact on all of your students.  I've read through your responses to the previous comments.  My biggest question at this moment are how you brought everyone up to speed on the specific objectives and needs of the students?  I see that you had all of teachers engaged in training, but what did you do for your engineering graduate students who would also be working to support and increase engagement for students with autism in these collaborative settings?  What barriers did you find, and how did you mitigate them, along the way?  

And responding logged in now...Thanks for your comments as well Sarah...would love to hear more about your work with adults!

There are so many interesting aspects about your project. My main questions are about your curriculum and the projects you have developed. Are those projects ones that you will be able to share with other educators and groups working with students with Autism?

Your partnership also seems like it is working very well - other than what you share above, do you have recommendations for educators in other states and cities as they think about integrating a maker program in their after school environments?

Hi Pati and Chris;

Thanks for your questions. We are keeping a list of people who are interested in accessing these resources when they become publicly available. Please send me an email (wmartin@edc.og) if you would like to be added to the list. The resources will likely be available next year (we have a final year of testing next year).

Great program and opportunity for our ASD Nest students! 

What a wonderful opportunity to expose our students to STEM!

Thanks Lindsay and Christine! We're hoping to offer it to more Nest schools in the future.

This is a great project. As a parent of a special kid I am becoming acutely aware as to how important it is to have programs with adapted curriculums along with teacher and staff training to understand ASD and ADHD. We love NYSci.

Hi Kasey;

We certainly love NYSCI too! We could not have done this without them. They have been fantastic partners in this journey. NYSCI is not only an excellent science museum and leader in maker education, but they are very interested in supporting children with special needs and interests, in formal and informal education.

Wonderful and very interesting work.  What are plans for expanding to other audiences?

Hi Kathryn;

We've been thinking about how to scale the program and reach more students. Certainly we will have the materials available from the NY Hall of Science and the ASD Nest Support Project websites, hopefully next year. We also want to go into more schools in New York City, possibly working with some younger or older students. We also are talking about expanding to other districts. I saw what you are working on in the Norman OK school district. It's a great idea to bring making into the school day through libraries. How have students with disabilities responded to your project?

Just wanted to echo all of the praise from the other commenters - I'm so impressed with this application of Making and how it is positioned to broaden participation. You are probably aware of Autcraft, but if not, it is well worth a look in case you venture into digital Making or 3D printing (a common application of creations in Minecraft), and want to leverage that as another way to reach kids with Austism. The video was wonderful, thanks so much for putting it together!