On July 9, 10, and 11 2019, 20 different partners from Croatia, North Macedonia, Poland, the UK, and Belgium held the third transnational meeting of the ASD-EAST project, hosted by the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation at the University of Zagreb, in Croatia.

At this meeting, project coordinators from the University of Northampton updated all partners about the progress of the work over the past 10 months. One of the main achievements so far is the ASD-EAST Mapping Report, a study undertaking by the academic partners within the project to identify both country-specific and EU-wide strengths, challenges, barriers and opportunities regarding educational training related to autism, and good practice regarding the provision of teacher training.

Partners also devoted different sessions of the meeting to discuss the teacher training curriculum and programme, designed at the second project meeting in Northampton in January 2019, and to further develop the content of the ASD-EAST training materials.

These training materials will be used to deliver training to specialist educators working within both mainstream and special school settings in Croatia, North Macedonia, and Poland. They will comprise approx. 12 hours of training materials for participants. All of these will be available in English, Croatian, Macedonian, Polish, and French.

The ASD-EAST training materials are divided into the following modules:

1. Supporting Communication
2. Emotional Understanding
3. Social Skills
4. Sensory Issues
5. Modifications and Adaptations
6. Challenging Behaviour

This meeting also looks at the wider discussion on various aspects of the project, such as dissemination, evaluation, quality assurance, finances, impact, risk management, or feedback from project advisory group.

Furthermore, partners participated on a dissemination work stream activity and on an impact workshop. A parallel session was also held by the University of Northampton and Autism-Europe on how to promote project materials and ASD-EAST multiplier events in 2020, as well as how to reach policy-makers dealing with disability, education and inclusion at all levels in each targeted country, and other stakeholders.

On July 10, Vice Dean for Science and International Cooperation of the University of Zagreb Prof.dr.sc. Sandra Bradarić welcomed partners to the university and highlighted the importance of this international cooperation for the institution. Project partners had also the opportunity to visit the Rehabilitation Center of the university.