SHARJAH

SHARJAH AUTISM CENTER ORGANIZES AN INFORMATIVE CAMPAIGN ON WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS DAY

Apr 4, 2021

To celebrate World Autism Awareness Day recognized on April 2 of each year, Sharjah Autism Center of Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services organizes its annual informative campaign for autism spectrum disorder during this April under the slogan (Be Kind to the blue). The campaign aims at raising community's awareness and sharing success stories of people with autism spectrum disorder and their families. The city chose the logo to identify the challenges and opportunities available to students and their families and means to support them.

In this context, and in cooperation with the Art for All Center (Falaj) of the city, the Sharjah Autism Center organized an art gallery for students with autism spectrum disorder, which lasted for five days. It aimed at developing their creative skills in accordance with international best practices.

Dr. Siham Al-Hamimat, Director of the Center, has emphasized the leading role of the city in providing support and assistance to people with autism spectrum disorder and their families in various fields.

She said, “The city established Sharjah Autism Center in 2002. It currently provides services to 78 people with autism spectrum disorder, as 47 teachers, trainers, specialists and administrators oversee the provision of these services in line with the latest global trends”.

She added, “The center's celebration of World Autism Awareness Day was not limited to the art gallery. In addition, the center organized a virtual seminar and dialogue session under the same slogan that the city chose as a community message to address autism spectrum disorder, which associated with the blue color”.

Al-Hamimat referred to the challenges posed by COVID 19 and the distance learning process. She has confirmed that the center was able to overcome these challenges by continuing to provide services, to its members, in cooperation with parents through psychological and educational support. In addition to providing individual sessions to students, closely while taking all precautionary measures.

For example, Dr. Siham gave a lecture entitled (How does families deal with crises?). The center’s staff gave many lectures on (Means to organize classroom and home environment).

The Sharjah Autism Center had recently activated the (mental arithmetic) program as a method and tool in developing students ’abilities through creative and innovative ways to solve mathematical problems. At the beginning of the year, the center adopted (TEACH) scale to assess the transition phase of students over 12 years old with the aim of identifying student interests and facilitating the integration process.