JAMEELA AL QASIMI PARTICIPATES IN THE VIRTUAL FORUM ON EARLY INTERVENTION
On Thursday, November 26 2020, the Early Intervention Center organized a virtual forum on early intervention (work team) in presence of Her Highness Sheikha Jameela bint Muhammad Al Qasimi, Director General of Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services (SCHS), and His Excellency Dr. Sultan Maani, Vice President of the Hashemite University for Student Affairs. A group of academics and specialists in the Arab world participated. The forum aims at highlighting the importance of teamwork in early intervention programs and reviewing the most important features that must be available to reach success.
At the beginning, Her Highness Sheikha Jameela Al Qasimi welcomed all participants and speakers to the forum. She confirmed that they had a rich intellectual contribution to SCHS journey. In turn, SCHS has great experience that left positive impact on their professional and intellectual career.
Her Highness appreciated the efforts made by the SCHS team its Early Intervention Center to spread the culture of early intervention and keep abreast of the latest international practices in this field.
Ms. Mona Abdul Karim Al-Yafei, SCHS Director, supervised the forum. She emphasized in her speech that more than a quarter of a century had passed since the establishment of the Early Intervention Center as the first center of its kind in the region. It was in the beginning (an idea) for which SCHS administration represented by Her Highness Sheikha Jameela bint Muhammad Al Qasimi provided the solid foundation for children with developmental delays and children of various disabilities to receive appropriate rehabilitation and training services that make their lives and the lives of their parents better.
An idea that emerged in 1992
She said, “This valuable idea has emerged from SCHS vision of including, advocating and empowering persons with disabilities. It began to take shape since 1992 when SCHS organized a conference on early intervention in cooperation with some partners. The conference aimed at educating pediatricians and the community about the importance of early detection of disability in a time when (shame) of disability prevailed. It was not easy to accept the services provided by SCHS from some families, so SCHS made great efforts not only to raise their awareness, but in the practical field and searching for cases that needed support and intervention to provide them with appropriate services”.
An integrated work team
The city director explained how the early intervention center has been working since its inception to provide specialized cadres out of the belief that the success of any institution is through the strength of its cadres, its diversity, and the excellence of its performance. The center is keen to organize conferences and workshops not only at the level of the United Arab Emirates, but also at the level of the Gulf countries and the Arab world.
She said, “The team at the Early Intervention Center is complete (working group) since it actual work in 1993. The center includes specialists in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and audiology, social service, family counseling and a special education teacher. SCHS has been and still the first that would provide services to people with disabilities, according to international best practices”.
Since its establishment, SCHS Early Intervention Center has provided its services to 3,347 beneficiaries, 55 of whom are people with rare syndromes. As for the screenings and early detection program organized by the center since 2006, it has covered 7,012 children until 2020, noting that the statistics change every day.
She praised the role of mass media in changing the negative perception of society and families towards persons with disabilities.
At the end of her speech, SCHS director clarified that all of what was mentioned - which is just the tip of the abundance of the Early Intervention Center - would not have been without the unlimited support of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah. The wise management of Her Highness Sheikha Jameela bint Muhammad Al Qasimi, Director General of SCHS, who worked to change the trends of society, had a special and influential footprint that everyone witnessed.
Working papers
After a short video to introduce the center since its beginnings, Dr. Ahmed Al-Tamimi, Professor of the Department of Special Education in the College of Education at King Saud University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia spoke at the forum. He presented a working paper in which he discussed (Types of Work Team for Early Intervention).
He also talked about the most prominent patterns of developing work teams around the world, such as low-cost, informal, and alternative work teams, as well as the distribution of tasks and duties to all members of the work team, and ways to lead the team with anticipated goals.
Dr. Iman Al-Zaboon, currently associate professor and former head of the Special Education Department at the Hashemite University in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, will present a working paper on (Cooperative Relations and Strategies for Effective Communication and Conflict Resolution).
In her paper, Dr. Al-Zaboun explained that cooperative relationships, effective communication strategies, and conflict resolution are among the urgent necessities for the success of the work team in the field of early intervention. Many practices reduce the effectiveness of communication between team members. It includes the multiplicity of advice or speed in providing it, negative reassurance, and reducing the importance of feelings, irrelevant questions and more.
The forum's work continued, in which Dr. Soha Tabal, an expert in training and consulting, early intervention and inclusive education in early childhood in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, talked about (The Role of the Work Team in Planning and Implementing Educational and Training Programs in Early Intervention).
She emphasized that the quality of early intervention services depends on providing models that have proven effective in the long term, which recommended enhancing the potential of families, as the family is no longer only a recipient of the service, but rather a basic partner in the work team, starting from evaluation and ending with programming and service delivery.
After that, Dr. Rawhi Abdat, the educational psychologist in the Department of Care and Rehabilitation of People of Determination and the supervisor of the Emirates Early Intervention Program at the Ministry of Community Development, discussed in his work paper (Family Participation and Its Importance within the Work Team). He also talked about families’ journey during the program and the forms of its participation in each stage of the intervention in order to achieve the desired goals
Dr. Rawhi Abdat has stressed the importance of the families' role since they notice the initial signs of delay on the child and referring him to evaluation. The family must provide specialists with information that lead to important and accurate results in the evaluation. In addition to the effective participation of the family with the work team in building the individual plan for the child or the family and how to apply it in the range of natural environments and mechanisms for re-evaluating plans and assessing the development of the child in various fields.
SCHS early intervention center is the first of its kind in the region,
Mr. Mohamed Fawzi, Director of the Early Intervention Center, will talk about the experience of the center of Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services, which is one of the leading centers in the field of early intervention in the region. Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services has been keen, since its establishment, to provide services in the best way and out of its keenness to keep abreast of developments in the field of disability. The establishment of the Early Intervention Center embodies the pioneering vision that SCHS always aspired to achieve. Thus, it was the first center of its kind in the region.
The contributions of Family Councils of the Early Intervention Center
A number of parents from the Mothers, Fathers and Brothers' Councils presented their experiences with early intervention. Then, Ms. Mona opened the door to inquiries and discussions.
The objectives of the forum are
The virtual forum on early intervention has many objectives such as drawing attention to the latest and best contemporary practices in the field of early intervention, raising the level of services and seeing the most important experiences, expertise and scientific research. In addition, it will provide the opportunity to share experiences between specialized and working centers in the field and to see different practices in several countries.
Moreover, the forum aims at developing services and keeping abreast of developments in the education and training of children with disabilities, developmental delays or at risk of disability or developmental delay, enabling those working in early intervention from learning new skills and knowledge, and establishing partnerships between the parties concerned with early intervention services. In addition, it will create new cultures and experiences that serve to develop services and open new horizons for institutions and individuals alike to cooperate and exchange experiences, with an emphasis on consolidating the role of the family as part of the team.
It is worth noting that the virtual forum (work team) comes within the activities of the Early Intervention Week organized by the center under the theme (Roots and Bridges). The week will take place from 22 to 26 November 2020 in conjunction with the annual celebration of the official opening of the center as the first center of its kind in the region on November 26, 1994.