Announcing the WInners of the 2026 Tools Competition!

2026 Winner

SkillFlix AYA+Socialwise

An AI-enhanced conversation agent providing autistic young adults with a personalized, neuro-affirming space to build social-emotional skills

United States of America

Focus Area:

Post-Secondary Learning

Prize Level:

Growth Prize

Project Description

Autistic young adults are enrolling in post-secondary school in growing numbers, yet the support systems designed to help them rarely reflect their needs. SkillFlix AYA + SocialWise is dfusion’s answer to that gap — combining a patented, research-backed Microskills® video library with SocialWise, an AI-enhanced conversation agent that guides users to the right skill content, role-plays real-world scenarios with them, and delivers responsive, judgment-free feedback in the moment they need it. Built and trained exclusively on evidence-based, neuro-affirming content developed with and by autistic young adults, SocialWise is a purposeful, closed AI system grounded in the community it serves. Tested through an RCT that demonstrated significant gains in skill use, conflict resolution, and confidence, SkillFlix AYA now adds SocialWise to provide the one thing the videos alone couldn’t provide: a judgment-free safe place to practice their communication skills. This gives autistic young adults tools to advocate for themselves, drive their own learning, and feel successful.

Meet Our Team

BA Laris

Director

Tamara Kuhn

CEO

Elizabeth (Izzy) Schieber

Research Associate

Bhupendra Sheoran, MD, MBA

Co-founder and Chief Healthcare Officer, Intuist.ai