A PRESS CONFERENCE INTRODUCING CHILDHOOD THON 5
Monday, January 8, 2024, The Early Intervention Center of the Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services (SCHS) organized a press conference for the “Childhood Thon 5” event, which the center will organize on Thursday, January 11, at the Flag Island in Sharjah. The event aims at integrating students with disabilities, educating the community about their issues and rights, and developing fruitful partnerships. between SCHS and various community institutions in accordance with international best practices.
A number of parents, principals of schools, kindergartens, and nurseries, teachers, and students attended the conference, which was moderated by Mr. Rami Magdy, Speech and Language Unit Supervisor and Director of SCHS Therapeutic Center. In addition to a group of volunteers, interested parties, and media colleagues. The conference discussed the importance of the services provided by the Early Intervention Center for children with disabilities from the age of birth to five years. They also addressed importance of cooperation between the center, parents, schools, nurseries, and kindergartens in achieving the best results.
Several parents discussed their experiences as well as their children's experiences in inclusive schools and the center during the press conference. Principals of kindergartens and schools also spoke about the value of working together and coordinating with the center, as well as their part in integrating kids and identifying cases that require the right kind of intervention through surveys run by the multidisciplinary team at the center. It helps to provide early services to students who require them. Not to mention the speeches given by schoolchildren taking part in the marathon, who discussed the value of the Childhood Thon and the events put on by SCHS to inform the public about the problems and rights of individuals with disabilities and how to address them.
Mr. Mohamed Fawzi, Director of the Early Intervention Center, confirmed that the fifth session of the “Childhood Thon” event will witness the participation of 2,500 male and female students from Sharjah schools, along with their fellow students from SCHS with disabilities, under the direct supervision of volunteers. The international tennis player, “Anwar Al-Kamouni,” will also participate. The first athlete in the world to return to the world tennis rankings after a bone marrow transplant. Everyone will participate in sports and entertainment competitions that will include a simulation of disability, and there is no winner or loser in these competitions because their goal is to raise awareness, as everyone will be a winner.
He added, “All dignity and gratitude are due to those who are disabled. As a result, every community institution needs to support their social integration. We have been eager in the past and we will remain so to provide correct information to students about how to accept differences, give people with disabilities the assistance they need when they need it, and strengthen the belief that people with disabilities are valuable and essential members of society.”.
The Early Intervention Center's director attested to SCHS's pioneering role as the country's first establishment to offer early intervention services since 1994. The center was developed because SCHS, which was established in 1979, was determined to work tirelessly to modernize and grow its programs as well as broaden the scope of services it offered. The early childhood stage is crucial, and the SCHS philosophy translates the idea of early intervention into a dual process that involves, on the one hand, preventing disability and, on the other, working to keep the handicap or weakness from becoming a disability.
Fawzi talked about the services that the center provides to its students. The most important of which are screening, early detection, developmental diagnosis, psychological and educational evaluation, family counseling and home training, and education (special services for enrolled children), supportive therapeutic services, which include (speech and language services, psychological, educational and social services, and therapy services), physical and functional services, services of the Sharjah Audiology Unit, Assistive Technology and Nursing Services), visual disability programs. Consultations and follow-ups include individual or group consultations, follow-up of children and transitional plans, training. raising community awareness includes training, development and raising awareness of services for employees, specialists and cadres working in the field, school, and college students. Community awareness also includes integration programs, academic and social. Supportive activities and services include music therapy, sports and recreational activities, artistic activities.