iCodejr turns an autism coding pilot into a blueprint for accessible ed-tech
iCodejr, the STEM-accredited online digital and AI literacy academy for school children, has completed a 10-week paid coding enrichment programme built specifically for neurodivergent learners at Behaviour Enrichment, a Dubai paediatric therapy centre offering ABA, speech and occupational therapy alongside special educational programmes. The engagement ran from 23 April to 2 July 2026, supported 10 students across two age-differentiated batches, and was led personally by iCodejr Founder and CEO Hannan Moti.
The significance of the pilot sits less in its size than in its design. Rather than retrofitting an existing syllabus, iCodejr constructed a custom-adapted curriculum for autistic and neurodivergent learners, matching visual, block-based coding tools with autism-informed teaching strategies and supports.
The team also built a bespoke session feedback and engagement-tracking system, treating the accessibility work as a genuine product build rather than a one-off intervention and using real-time data to refine instruction week by week. That approach, structured, measurable and iterative, is what separates a marketing gesture from an operational model others in the sector could adopt.
An accessibility build, not a scaled-down class
The programme was split by age and ability. The first batch, for learners aged 10 to 12, concentrated on introductory block-based coding using Scratch and Matatalab, with attention on movement, loops, and early computational thinking. The second batch, for ages 14 to 16, extended that tangible, tools-based foundation into more advanced Scratch projects, introducing greater complexity in logic, sequencing, and project design.
The rationale, according to Moti, was to build around the cognitive strengths that autistic learners bring rather than around their perceived limitations. “Our mission has always been to make high-quality coding and STEM education inclusive, affordable and accessible for every child, and not just those who find it easy to fit traditional classrooms,” said Hannan Moti, Founder and CEO of iCodejr. “Partnering with Behaviour Enrichment allowed us to design around the strengths of autistic learners: their love of structure, focus on detail, and capacity for deep engagement. Coding becomes a superpower when we remove barriers and build with accessibility in mind.”
Why coding suits how many autistic learners think
The pilot rests on a growing body of evidence that logical, rule-based environments can suit autistic learners particularly well. Global research, including work published in the Nature journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, increasingly indicates that coding can be a strong fit for children who thrive on clear cause-and-effect feedback. Studies and practitioner reports point to gains in logical thinking, problem solving, spatial reasoning, and creativity, alongside the predictable structure and immediate feedback that many autistic children find calming. Collaborative coding tasks have also been associated with improvements in self-confidence, resilience, and social skills.
The choice of tools followed directly from that evidence base. “Visual, block-based tools such as Scratch are increasingly examined as accessible platforms for children with cognitive impairments and autism spectrum conditions, because they minimise syntax barriers, rely on visual metaphors, and allow learners to build interactive media in a highly concrete way,” Moti added. In practice, that meant learners could produce working projects without first clearing the hurdle of written code, a hurdle that stops many children well before they reach the ideas coding is meant to unlock.
A therapeutic fit, from the centre’s side
For Behaviour Enrichment, the collaboration extended an existing push into future skills. “At Behaviour Enrichment, we believe that there are no limits to what students of determination can achieve,” said Rajashree Balasubramanian, COO of Behaviour Enrichment. “Over the past few years, we have been focusing on future skills through ICT programmes, covering Microsoft Office, design skills through Canva, and more recently, using AI tools such as ChatGPT.”
The coding partnership, she said, extended that trajectory into new territory. “Our partnership with iCodejr builds on this foundation by introducing coding into our ecosystem,” Balasubramanian added. “This has added a structured and motivating learning channel that aligns beautifully with our therapeutic goals. We have seen the confidence that students gain as they bring their ideas to life through code, and the clear, predictable nature of block-based programming has been especially reassuring for many of our learners. The team at iCodejr has been wonderful to work with, highly skilled, patient and encouraging. We look forward to seeing our students continue to build confidence, develop new skills, and soar to even greater heights.”
A template iCodejr intends to replicate
The initiative reflects a broader argument iCodejr has been making about the direction of the sector: that coding education should be genuinely inclusive rather than merely scaled, and that accessibility belongs in the design of products and curricula from the start. The company’s regional footprint already includes school partnerships, hackathons such as Code Battle, described as the UAE’s largest inter-school coding competition, and Arab Kids Code, a non-profit programme aiming to reach one million Arab students with STEM and coding education.
Off the back of the Behaviour Enrichment pilot, iCodejr plans to pursue further accessibility-focused engagements with schools, therapy centres, and non-profits, with an eye to co-designing inclusive coding pathways that run alongside ABA, speech, and occupational therapy programmes. The stated aim is a sustainable, data-informed model for accessible ed-tech capable of being replicated across the UAE and further afield. For a market where inclusion is frequently invoked and less frequently engineered, a documented, measurable pilot offers something the sector can actually build on.
