<< Background >>The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has continued to increase by 200% over the last 20 years. According to ASDEU (2018), the European Parliament project on ASD, one in 89 children is diagnosed with ASD in the European Union. Care and dialogue for ASD is consequently moving consistently higher in the social agenda. For the professionals that work most often with people with ASD, there is a need for their training to match pace with this emerging and future need of our society. One of the relevant key groups of professionals, are healthcare workers, as they can be the ones to interact early in their lives and frequently with ASD individuals, as they are 50 times more likely to visit a healthcare professional and 4 times more likely to end up in the emergency room (CDC). However, research suggests (Austriaco et al., 2019) that the perceived general knowledge of ASD is low for healthcare professionals and VET students. The unique characteristics of the ASD population pose a unique challenge for healthcare professionals to manage. The exposure to a new environment a person with ASD must face during a consultation, the lack of verbal communication and the repetitive behaviors can become barriers to medical diagnosis and management during the visit. Lack of skills and relevant training for the healthcare professionals can lead to late diagnosis and intervention, poor management of ASD patients in need of healthcare services, and, thus, a low quality service provision by healthcare professionals.However, currently there is no VET specialization for healthcare professionals on autism. Some online courses are offered for healthcare professionals, but they are either introductory and information sessions or available only in EN and paid courses. Moreover, there are very few resources on how to treat ASD adults, in comparison to ASD children. The close links of healthcare provision to ASD individuals, involves not only the patients and the healthcare professionals, but also most commonly ASD patients’ families and/or communities, healthcare facilities and staff, and other social services. This in turn adds a challenge on how not only curricula need to be updated and professionals upskilled, but also how the way VET is practiced in such a setting may require a more collaborative and connected stakeholders approach.<< Objectives >>The project aims at providing healthcare professionals (nursing & midwifery professionals- ESCO 2221 & 2222) with a new, innovative and accessible learning opportunity on ASD. More specifically, the project’s objectives are:- to support innovation in VET by offering a new specialization in ASD- to upskill healthcare professionals on ASD - to raise awareness on the importance of ASD training for healthcare professionals - to respond to the increasing need for ASD specialized healthcare professionals<< Implementation >>The project is going to implement the following activities: - Desk research on skills’ gap of healthcare professionals on ASD- Field research with interviews with professionals & interviews with families and individuals with ASD per country - Collection of cases for treating ASD patients- Mapping and identification of the specific learning needs of healthcare professionals on the topic of ASD- Mapping & inventory of existing curricula on ASD for healthcare professionals - Creation of the curriculum outline, teaching methodologies and curriculum plans- Development of the educational material and interactive training resources for trainers - Profile definition of learners - Organization of a short joint staff training - Creation of the piloting methodological framework - Networking and identification of participants for the pilot implementation with the participation of ASD individuals - Reporting on the pilot implementation - Collection of the experiences from project implementation and development of a step-by-step roadmap on how VET institutions can adopt the project methodology and results in their organization<< Results >>The project results of the project are described in detail in the next parts of the application. In summary the following project results are foreseen for the project: R1: Curriculum for healthcare professionalsR2: Trainer toolkit for VET trainersLTTA: Joint staff training on how to deliver the training sessions for healthcare professionalsR3: Training sessions for healthcare professionalsR4: Roadmap on how to implement ASD training in VETApart from the above mentioned, the project will also have results relating to dissemination: - 1 Dissemination & Exploitation Strategy and Toolkit, with an outline for the approach, the public identity, the target groups and channels of the project. - Moreover, a website of the project will be prepared and the project flyers, publication templates, press release templates etc.Lastly, at the end of the project it is expected that the project will have the following outcomes: - Enhanced capacity of healthcare professionals on how to manage & diagnose ASD individuals in their practice- Better accessibility to high quality healthcare services for ASD individuals and their families- Better understanding of the skills’ gap of healthcare professionals