It takes a village to teach students with autism, but usually we only think of adults as making up that support community. Research continues to show that not only do students with autism respond better to interventions that are modeled by same-age neurotypical peers, but it also has positive benefits for those peers by increasing their empathy, advocacy, and leadership skills. Additionally, a community of students supporting their classmates with autism increases inclusivity and normalizes diversity, which can greatly impact the community’s emotional well-being.
Project Exchange brings together high school and college students from around the globe to talk about culture, promote mutual understanding, and prepare youth to tackle critical global issues through cross-cultural communication.
The SourceAmerica IDEATE competition (formerly called the SourceAmerica Design Challenge) invites high school and college engineering students from across the country to innovate ways to improve workplace inclusion and opportunities for people with disabilities.
NASA internships for high school (grades 9–12) and college-level students leverage NASA’s unique missions and programs to enhance and increase the capability, diversity, and size of the nation’s future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce.
The nonprofit Classroom Champions connects volunteer Olympians, Paralympians, Student Athletes, and Professional Athletes to K–8 classrooms through a social and emotional–based curriculum and mentorship experience.