SCHS APPLIES THE ARABIC VERSION OF THE MERRILL-PALMER-REVISED SCALES OF DEVELOPMENT
The Ajad Training Center, the “Training Unit” of Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services (SCHS), organized, for the first time in the Arab world, a training program on the use of the Arabic version of the Merrill-Palmer-Revised Scales of Development (M-P-R). In this training, a group of psychologists from SCHS participated, in cooperation with the Bana Center for Consultation, Research and Training, which is the sole agent for the Miller-Palmer scale in its Arabic version.
At the end of this training, SCHS will be the first Arab institute to apply the Arabic version of this scale. It assesses cognitive, social and emotional development and self-reliance, as well as fine and gross motor development in infants and children aged six months to six years. It is a standard measure applied individually.
Since its establishment 44 years ago, SCHS has been keen to apply international best practices, and to attract the latest tools and tests used with persons with disabilities. It is part of its relentless pursuit to be a comprehensive center in providing services for persons with disabilities.
The Merrill-Palmer-Revised Scales of Development includes four separate assessment domains as rated by parents: expressive language, social and emotional development, social-emotional mood pattern, and self-reliance/self-adaptation.
As for the examiner, he applies measures of cognitive battery, gross movements, and receptive language, where the cognitive battery measures general knowledge, receptive language, and fine skills, and gives complementary scores for memory and speed of knowledge.
The gross movements scale consists of movement in general, unusual movements, and atypical movement patterns. The examiner can use test results to monitor premature infants, identify developmental delays, track improvement in children's growth, and evaluate children with hearing impairment, autism spectrum disorder, or limited language skills.
The Ajad Center, which was established in 2019 as a Training Unit of SCHS, is keen to provide the latest and best training programs in the field of special education and psychology, in addition to fixed periodic programs in sign language and dealing with people with disabilities.