2. Rustam’s mother had taken him to several engineering hobby clubs before she discovered us. Due to his developmental peculiarities, they struggled to find a suitable environment for him. “Rustam kept interfering with the other kids’ activities, so we were asked to leave again and again. Yet I felt that Rustam had an aptitude for exact sciences and programming, so I never stopped looking for teachers for him,” his mother says.

As with many special children, socialization was the top priority in working with Rustam. When he came to us at the age of eight, he would rather cuddle with everyone and play hide-and-seek for hours. We looked long and hard for ways to motivate the boy to learn. Gently and tactfully, we would guide him towards those interests that could become the basis of his future professional career.

After two years of combined efforts from our team and his mother, Rustam became the absolute champion in the regional Programming Olympics. While his peculiarities did not go away completely, the latest summer camp session at our club made it clear that Rustam is now ready to become an integral part of the teenage community. Delighted with the transformation, his mother credits us for support in making a significant difference in her son’s life. The boy is eager to perceive knowledge despite distracting signals, and he has become more hard-working and more constrained in his emotions.

3. Children often come to our club by chance. Alexey is an eighth-grader whose mom brought him by the hand and said, “He doesn’t want to study, he’s not interested in anything, maybe you can do something about him.”

Here’s what Alexey himself tells about his experience: “Attending regular school has not been enjoyable for me in a long time. I often found myself asking, ‘Why learn this? Where would I ever use it?’ When I came to RHYTHM, I was offered a few trial classes. After that, I decided to enroll in the course on Blender 3D modeling. Blender is a versatile tool for working with 3D graphics, animation, even creating characters for computer games. Recently I participated in the ROBOART Interregional Open Festival of Scientific and Technical Creativity, getting the second place in 3D modeling discipline.”

Alexey has also taken a great interest in our electronics courses. He attends the club four times a week and is eager to continue his studies. He is set on entering a radio engineering college after completing the 9th grade.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT

At present, our country’s industry is facing a critical shortage of skilled workforce. Assisting factories and enterprises in cultivating talent involves engaging gifted and interested children in technical creative work, thereby motivating them to pursue further education in essential fields. What sets our project apart is its ability not only to teach design, construction, and programming of devices of varying complexities but also to guide children from school to a vocational school and further to an enterprise.

FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY MODEL

Class passes, grant funds, investors (city businesses interested in future workforce).

IMPACT ASSESSMENT METHODS

1. Subject matter skills acquired by children in the classroom.

We assess the children’s subject knowledge twice a year. At the start of the year, they either take a test or complete a practical assignment, such as soldering together a circuit board or coding a mathematical algorithm in a programming language. At the end of the year, the students complete their individual projects, all addressing specific practical tasks and tailored to the respective age groups. Some kids make a short track machine, while others tackle the challenge of building their own mini-CNC mill. We aim to ensure that the level of subject skills and knowledge in our groups remains at least 75 %.

2. Soft skills (communication skills, critical thinking, etc.)

Soft skills development is evaluated via questionnaires filled out by parents. Many parents link the improvement in their children’s diligence with participation in our classes (68 % of parents mentioned this skill). However, we also focus on fostering communication skills among the children. Since robotics and electronics involve teamwork, we encourage the kids to effectively communicate with each other and discuss the distribution of responsibilities and objectives within their projects.

Participating in competitions and Olympics also plays a significant role in honing their soft skills. 27 of our students showcased their talents in various events in 2022. 11 of them won various prizes and awards. Two children even made it to the regional level of the Russian National School Olympics in Computer Science.

3. Preparing kids to make career choices.

To measure our students’ preparation to making career choices, we observe the disciplines they choose for their Basic State Examinations or Universal State Examinations, and their enrollment decisions. Here we see a strong correlation between their performance and the duration of their attendance. For instance, currently 95 % of the kids who have been with us for more than 2 years opt for computer science or physics as their exam disciplines. However, our main goal is not just to guide our students towards engineering universities. What matters most to us is that after completing our courses, each child can clearly state their professional choices and identify what truly excites them about their chosen careers.

Center for Neuropsychological Correction of Children and Adolescents

Improving the Quality of Life and Social Adaptation of Children with Developmental Disorders.

www.cndip.ru

The Center provides remedial classes (neuropsychological correction, speech therapy, ABA therapy) for children and adolescents with developmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and learning difficulties. The purpose of the classes is to help the students acquire vital life skills, adapt to society, and overcome learning difficulties.

PROBLEM ADDRESSED

About one in 44 children at the age of eight are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, boys being affected on average 4 times more frequently than