The Partnership with Autistic and Neurodiverse Adults (PANDA) Project is an umbrella term for a multitude of community-engaged, interprofessional programs that share the overarching goal of providing high-quality services that help neurodiverse individuals to lead productive, skilled lives in ways that are meaningful to them. Since its inception, the PANDA Project has prioritized inclusion, with all programming being cultivated both for and with the help of the neurodiverse community.
The Wellness Initiative Summer Experience: A Partnership with Autistic & Neurodiverse Adults (WISE PANDA) is one such program that launched in the summer of 2023 to serve this underserved population. WISE PANDA serves young adults (18+) in central New York through a variety of evidence-based activities designed to promote skills within the domains of communication, emotional regulation, socialization, and overall wellness. With the support and supervision of university faculty, the program is co-facilitated annually by students from diverse professional degree programs (e.g., clinical psychology, speech and language pathology, social work, occupational therapy).
The proposed lightning talk will overview the interprofessional model and structure of WISE PANDA, including the inputs, activities, outputs and effects of this university-community program. When elucidating the inputs and activities, the presenters will offer an expanded overview of how interprofessional teams of professionals and graduate students learn about, from, and with each other while collaborating to deliver the program. While describing the program outputs and effects, the presenters will describe how students’ learning objectives and outcomes aligned with the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) core competencies, in addition to summarizing findings from the pre-post administration of Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) and Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) to learners.
The proposed lightning talk will conclude with a discussion of lessons learned following three consecutive years of program delivery. The presenters will describe honed strategies for preparing students for interprofessional collaborative practice that addresses the health-related social needs of the often marginalized and underserved population of autistic and neurodiverse adults. Attendees of this lightning talk will gain insights into how a community-engaged, interprofessional program for neurodiverse adults can provide a meaningful learning environment for students while concurrently supporting the social-emotional needs of autistic and neurodiverse individuals.
