Work-related learning projects. The Day Centre for Autism Spectrum Disorders of the ASP in Catania
Renato Scifo, Giancarlo Costanza, Alfia Ruggeri
The Day Centre for Autism Spectrum Disorders of the ASP (Public Community Services Authority) in Catania carried out, for two school years, two different work-related learning projects with two secondary schools in the city. In the first project, the Day Centre asked the «Fermi-Eredia» Institute to have its students be part of the cast in an adaptation of the Wizard of Oz in the first year and Beauty and the Beast in the second, to be held in their theatre therapy workshop. The aim was to share all phases of the performance preparation, including acting, music, singing, set design, costumes and humanoid robotics (the little robot Nao had to be programmed to act) with the autistic teenagers of the Day Centre. In both cases the project ended with a performance open to the public, highlighting the true integration and inclusion of the two components in the project. In the other project it was the historical Lyceum «Cutelli» of Catania to invite the Day Centre to work on mediation projects between groups from the Lyceum, youths from the «Progetto Pallamica» (focusing on basketball), set up by the Association «Un futuro per l’Autismo Onlus» («A future for autism»), and the advanced technologies, robotics and augmented reality laboratory, active within the Day Centre for Autism Spectrum Disorders of the ASP in Catania. The results regarding participants’ perceptions and the various positive outcomes which were achieved and can be achieved are analysed.
Keywords
Work-related learning, day centre, theatre workshop, robots, «Pallamica» project.
