<< Background >>Different research studies (Courtenay y Perera, 2020; Amaral, de Vries, 2020; Ameis et al., 2020) show the negative effects COVID19 is bringing up for autistic people, in areas such as physical and emotional health, employment, family context, and the risk of loss of social skills and development setbacks. Therefore, it is urgent to address the need of designing /reinventing educational services delivery using on line/virtual tools. First observations (Narzisi, 2020) on already developed online attention initiatives, showed up that communication and cognitive difficulties of people with greater support needs, is an extra barrier towards an effective online support implementation.These barriers in accessing digital technologies are mainly caused by a lack of accessible tools; lack of competences (teachers, people with disabilities and their families); poorly adapted educational methodologies; and few technological resources. More specifically, digital tools are often designed for the general population without taking into account the needs of autistic people with lower cognitive levels (levels 1 and 2, according to the American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Tools adapted to the cognitive needs of such individuals through the incorporation of easily readable texts, and use of pictograms and graphic resources are strongly required.Such needs are similar to in relation to training, capacity building and online care methodologies. Another important obstacle is the lack of skills for the use and management of digital technologies by the professionals who attend them, for which adapted training is also required. In this sense, autistic people with lower cognitive levels need to improve their digital skills in order to bridge this gap and successfully use digital resources and technologies. Likewise, support and training for families is also essential. In addition, many autistic people and their families lack from the technological resources to autonomously access digital services such as online training and care.The GAMESS project is in line with the Decree-Law No. 3/2008 and the goals of special education in Denmark. Since 1993, public schools in Denmark, Folkeskolen, have been obliged to differentiate education according to students’ needs in general and not by transferring students to special needs education. However, the development has shown that there is a need for tools to help schools to engage with ordinary teaching to really differentiate the use of methods, educational materials and curricula for students with differences in development, abilities, language and culture. (https://www.european-agency.org/country-information/denmark/systems-of-support-and-specialist-provision). Similarly, in Finland, inclusion is the official educational policy, and since 2018, a new systematic way of organizing support, a so-called three-tiered support model, has been implemented. Rehabilitation and new technology give more opportunities for early rehabilitation and Finland puts attention for new possibilities. For CZA and Miradas organisations, actively working with children with autism, the main motivation to join this project is related to the need to improve quality of life of their students with ASD and fulfil one of the rights from Convention on the Rights of the Child which is related to achieving fullest possible social integration and individual development. STANDO offers teacher trainings to teachers from all over Europe, therefore, this project will help them to bring together the skills of such a diverse set of partners in creating new curricula and expanding their training offer.At the same time, through an exchange of good practices and ideas they will gain valuable knowledge and experiences which will not only contribute to the personal and professional development of their staff, but also to the creation of an innovative and comprehensive training package<< Objectives >>One of the characteristics of children with ASD, ADHD, learning disabilities and other neurodevelopmental disorders is social skills deficiency. Given the idiosyncratic difficulties in the social and emotional understanding of pupils with ASD, teachers may face considerable difficulties in managing their needs, thereby affecting the quality of the teachers’ relationship with these pupils (Emam and Farrell, 2009). Within this context, and considering how important learning social skills from an early age is, and the challenges teachers can face, we propose a project with target group general pre-school /primary school teachers that have in their mainstream classes children with ASD, with the following objectives:*To design, test and publish an innovative Educational Package on GBL for mainstream education teachers (primary school) *To design and create a variety of games- a VR game, and a booklet with a number of group classroom games that promote social skills development in children with autism but also in their neurotypical peers*To deliver a training course to train general primary teachers on GBL and how to use and create a variety of games to teach social skills to children with autism in the mainstream classroom<< Implementation >>The mission of the project is to develop a GBL package for Social Skills specially designed for young children with autism. An integrated approach will be used to accomplish this task. The consortium will start by creating the Social Skills Curriculum (IO1) for primary school teachers complemented by 2 types of games- VR game (PR2), and group classroom games (PR3), as an educational package, which will set up the pathway for teachers effectively teach important social skills to students with autism. Apart from the aforementioned project results, 1 5-day LTTA (C1) will be organised for teachers. During the C1 training the teachers will be trained on how to utilise the PRs to teach children with autism social skills they need to integrate in the community. All PRs will be pilot-tested on the teachers during the LTTA. The pilot testing of the developed PRs will start after the completion of their drafts to allow improvements and modifications during the C1. The teachers with the completion of the training event will give feedback with suggestions for improvements. Besides the PRs and the LTTA, 5 ME will be organised towards the end of the project to disseminate the project results.<< Results >>The project outcomes are directly linked its project results and activities carried out within the project implementation period:1. Project Results: The GBL for Social skills Curriculum, a VR game promoting socials skills, and a booklet with group classroom games promoting social skills, all interconnected. 2. LTTA: 1 training activity for teachers (3 from each country +another 3 at local level) and therefore, at least 18 teachers trained to use GBL (including VR technology) to teach social skills to children with ASD in the mainstream classroom3.5 multiplier events to promote the project, its results and outcomes among teachers and other stakeholders (organisations for people with SEN, teacher organisations, SENCOs, policymakers, and reformers) (E1-E5)Other expected outcomes of the project include:-Each partner will have the opportunity to learn about different aspects of GBL as well as VR technology as an educational tool, as practiced in each partners’ country, exchange good practices and experiences, develop common recommendations and guidelines and improve their competencies in the field of GBL and teaching social skills to children with ASD.-Formation of friendly relations between teachers from Denmark and the other partner countries, exchange of experiences and challenges they face and mutual support regarding the social inclusion of pupils with autism in the mainstream classroom-The project will facilitate the collaboration between key people (trainers, specialists, experts, representatives of local authorities) and teachers from each partner-The project will facilitate the social integration of children with ASD in the mainstream classroom-European international mobility of project participants (field professionals, representatives of target groups) -Social media campaigns -Project participants’ language and social competencies through active transnational communication and participation in project activities-It will raise autism awareness at local and EU levelIt is expected to improve children with ASD’s and their neurotypical peers’ social skillsAdditionally, the project also foresees a set of project management, dissemination, monitoring and evaluation, and coordination results. Once the project is completed the partnership will disseminate its results and will transfer the developed practices and educational products in other contexts and educational fields. Moreover, the PRs will be used in partners' institutional activities with other teachers working with children with ASD.