A service learning experience in association project autism of Valencia

Abstract

A Service-Learning Experience is presented by first-year Social Education students from the San Vicente Martir Catholic University of Valencia, in a family group (ASPAU) belonging to the Community of Valencia, under the need to improve the quality of life of children with autism, as well as that of their parents. In order to carry out the service, the students put into practice the academic skills of the subject: Specific Educational Support Needs. The main objective of the project was to promote the social and educational participation of this group, through the development of workshops once the most frequent needs were recognized. The overall idea was to detect the main specific needs and to implement an action plan that could facilitate the acquisition and improvement of these, by providing practical workshops and training to families. The observations carried out by this group of students resulted in a series of actions aimed at improving difficulties in attention, reactivity, low socialization, cognitive and motor development, as well as increasing memory and cognitive capacity. As a conclusion, it is important to highlight that the actions carried out increased the capacity of the students to put into practice the skills acquired throughout their training, increasing their skills to develop social strategies, as well as programming the necessary actions for the proper functioning of teamwork.