Ausome Training

It is not enough for school and community sports and recreation programs to allow children and youth on the autism spectrum to join if those programs are not built to adequately support their participation. Ausome Ottawa and the Canadian Disability Participation Project (CDPP) partnered to produce a resource tool to narrow that shortfall and to be a catalyst for transformative change: A Blueprint for Building Quality Participation in Sport for Children and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Together, we engaged parents, volunteers, and program staff to assess perceptions and experiences that children on the autism spectrum have in sports and recreation programs, and to generate and prioritize evidence-based strategies to foster their quality participation.

The Blueprint is the outcome of that research – a versatile tool and guidebook that educates coaches, teachers, instructors, associations and other sports and recreation providers across the country on how to audit their programs and to implement necessary changes that will make them more accessible to and inclusive of all children and youth on the autism spectrum.