The LEGO Foundation has announced the launch of a $20 million accelerator grant program in support of innovative play-based learning for neurodivergent children.

Launched as part of Autism Acceptance Month, the Play for All Accelerator will award funding to as many as 25 social enterprises, ventures, and organizations for efforts to build products, platforms, and services in support of play-based learning for autistic children and children with ADHD. Inaugural program participants will progress through a three-phased selection process, with funding, mentorship, and learning through play expertise provided at each stage. According to the foundation, current education-technology is mostly adapted to, not developed for, neurodivergent children and does not address some of their most critical and basic needs.

To progress to stage two, organizations will be required to pitch to a panel that includes the LEGO Foundation, venture capital experts, and paid neurodivergent advisors and children. Twelve successful candidates will progress to the final application stage, where ideas will be tested and plans finalized, and a maximum of five organizations will become long-term partners of the foundation, receiving funds to scale their ideas and innovation and generate evidence to benefit more neurodivergent children around the world.

“We believe that more neurodivergent children should experience the power of believing ‘I can,’ ” said LEGO Foundation CEO Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen. “By opening the Play for All Accelerator to organizations located anywhere in the world, those who benefit can become catalysts for future innovations. By working with partners, we aim to raise awareness, understanding, and acceptance of neurodiversity and challenge the stigma of diagnoses around the world. Ultimately, play helps children find and hone their strengths giving them the best chance possible to make friends, study in school, and set themselves up to thrive in life.”

(Photo credit: LEGO Foundation)