An innovative project of the Institute of Psychology and Education of KFU “Development and realization of the adaptive preschool curriculum for autistic children” was recognised by the Committee for Innovative Infrastructure projects in Education (Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation) on 18th December 2018 and KFU became a federal innovative centre.

The aim of federal innovative centres (FIC) is to improve and modernize the system of education considering the social, economic and political priorities of the Russian Federation.

The department of planning and strategic foresight was responsible for the competition of federal innovative centres. In 2018, 371 submissions were received by this department. As a result of the assessment, 242 organisations became the federal innovative centres.

The project of development and realization of the adaptive preschool curriculum for autistic children was presented from Kazan Federal University.

The federal innovative centres are not supposed to be funded by the government of Russia but they can adopt new strategies and practices leading to cognitive, social and psychophysiological development of children.

The methods of teaching and the methods that socialize preschool children will be piloted in several stages.

Anna Akhmetzyanova, a research manager, a head of a department of defectology and clinical psychology in the Institute of Psychology and Education, commented on this:

At the first stage, academics from our department estimate the quality of the organizations involved with autistic children; they also study the psychophysiological development of autistic children, the improvement of their social and adaptive potential and the difficulties of their socialization.

Scientists of KFU work on the integrated database of modern methods and strategies to diagnose autism spectrum disorders and treating programmes to support autistic children. The first stage results will be presented on the VII International Research conference “Autism: Challenges and solutions” in Moscow from 8th to 10th of April 2019.

As a federal innovative centre, KFU became one of the leading Russian universities whose research is focused on adaptive preschool curricula for autistic children.

The best practices for children with autism spectrum disorder will be generated on the base of a nursery of KFU for children with special needs. A vice-chancellor of KFU, Ilshat Gafurov, stated that these nursery teachers, psychologists and medical professionals would work with autistic children in order to improve their speaking skills and the process of socialization.

The nursery is designed for 75 neurotypical children and 20 children with autism spectrum disorder. The children with autism will be picked up with the assistance of a psychological, pedagogical and medical committee.

The nursery is consistent with the project of KFU “ecosystem of childhood” which takes into account the individual characteristics of children and supports the concept of personalized learning.