Qatar trains its cadres to deal with autism spectrum disorders

Emad Mourad - Doha

In order to change the society's perception of autism spectrum disorder, a comprehensive education forum was held in the capital city of Doha entitled "Towards Building a Support System for Early Intervention and Comprehensive Education for Autism Spectrum Disorder", with the participation of experts and specialists from within and outside Qatar.

The forum, organized by the Qatari Ministry of Health over the course of two days, included a number of themes, working sessions and discussions on many issues related to autism spectrum disorders, local experiences and studies on procedures and mechanisms for early detection and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, access to health, education and social services, Early and comprehensive education for autistic patients.

The forum focused on training Qatari cadres in the health and education sectors to deal with autism, changing the community's culture of accepting and integrating autistic children, and training families dealing with autistic children with different skills and experiences.

The forum also included a review of behavioral modification experiment, rehabilitation of autism spectrum disorder, how to deal with the psychological state of families of autism spectrum disorder, and dealing with children while receiving health services.

In addition, cognitive integration exercises for autism spectrum disorders, behavioral challenges, and emotional aspects of personality of autism spectrum disorder and how to deal with it and the methodology of shared behavioral behavior analysis.

Enclosed environment
In his speech at the opening of the forum, Dr Saleh Ali Al Marri, Assistant Minister of Public Health for Health Affairs stressed the need to create a good community environment to accommodate the members of autism, stressing the need to work hard and sincere intentions and perseverance to achieve the goal of integrating autism in society.

He explained that the lives of people with autism spectrum disorder need special care, attention and vision in order to intervene in a timely manner to change them and change the lives of their families for the better, pointing out that the forum has attracted the best specialists around the world to train Qatari cadres to deal with autism.

Dr. Nouf Mohammed al-Sudaiqi, the liaison officer for the National Autism Plan and the chairperson of the scientific committee of the forum, stressed that the forum was a culmination of the great and sincere efforts made by the State of Qatar to create a better present and a bright future for members of autism spectrum disorder.

Al-Siddiqui said in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that education and comprehensive education are the key to ensuring improvement, development and progress in the life of autism spectrum disorders, noting that making the child capable of independence and taking orders is one of the most important goals of specialists in this field.

She said that the Forum represents an important step in how the society deals with children of autism and contribute to raising awareness of the issues and rights of people with autism spectrum disorder and contributing to their integration into society.

Improving life
In 2017, Qatar launched the National Autism Plan, which aims to improve the lives of people with Autism Disorder and their families, which have become widespread locally and globally. This situation continues for life and affects the way autistic individuals deal with others and their attitudes and environment.

The National Autism Plan in Qatar sets 44 recommendations for implementation by 2021. The recommendations focus on practical programs to raise public awareness, facilitate early diagnosis, improve the quality of interventions and services, as well as continuity of care and meaningful development in education and social participation.

The second day of the forum included several workshops. Dr. Nahed Al Ateeq from the Sidra Medical Center in Qatar presented a workshop on dealing with children of autism spectrum disorders while receiving health services.

The psychologist at the Shafallah Center, Rabee Abdul Razek, presented a workshop on behavioral and emotional challenges in Autism Spectrum Disorder, as well as a workshop on cognitive integration training for autism presented by Carol Raibo of Hamad Medical Corporation.

On the sidelines of the forum, an exhibition of some tools for the children of autism spectrum disorders, in addition to many of the work carried out by children of autism in a number of centers and schools in Qatar.