Passion for child development

  I was among the first batch to graduate from Al Ain University with a degree in psychology.

I started working with a centre for special needs children immediately after graduating. I later worked in a juvenile centre and an old age home. I then moved to the Ministry of Labour to be a human resources officer. I have been privileged to work in so many different environments.I count myself as fortunate to have had the opportunity to interact with so many people with varying problems, and to see so many of these problems resolved or improved to some extent. I became interested in psychology because it is a subject that can be applied in every field. I have had ample opportunities to employ psychology in my various work.

I have four children.
They are all pursuing careers in different fields. When my kids were young and I was at work there was always a helping hand to look after them, whether it was my mother or one of my aunts. The kids never had a chance to miss a mother figure!
I think this was a major advantage of living in a joint family – I always had someone who cares who helped and kept an eye on them. If it weren’t for this support, I may never have had the career I’ve had!

My grandmother used to say, ‘spend one year of your life making money, and the rest of the years tending to your children’.
Unfortunately, given the fast pace of today’s lifestyle and the disintegration of the nuclear family model, this privilege is no longer commonplace. Everybody is too busy to even take a breath. I always say that children should be one’s first priority. Everything else is secondary. I regret not spending more time with my children when they were growing up, but I was always assured that they were well taken care of.

After 20 years in the labour office, I felt it was time to retire.
But the minute I started staying home, I got bored. The result of that boredom was the Little Bee nursery. Most of the kids there were late with speech. A child learns to exert his vocal skills from the age of two. But we had kids of five years old that weren’t yet speaking in complete sentences. I read in the papers that this was becoming a very common problem with children who spent a lot of time in apartments, as they had little exposure to the outside world. That’s when I felt I had to do more.

The Abu Dhabi Centre for Speech and  Language Disorders opened in June 2007.
We started out with a few kids with speech difficulties. Today we have children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and Down’s Syndrome attending. We have staff from India, Jordan, Egypt and the Philippines, and all are trained to speak in English and Arabic.

Most parents do not realise that their kids have a problem.
This is particularly true of a couple’s first-born. When the parents come to me, they want quick-fix remedies. I am not a miracle worker. Rehabilitation can only be effective with complete involvement from the parents, and it takes time. I can empathise with these parents, but as a caregiver, I have to implement
a systematic and rigorous approach.

My advice to parents would be to enforce serious discipline in their parenting technique.
When parents find out their kids have a behavioural or language problem, they spoil the kids. This is not going to help the child in any way. Another thing I have noticed is the convenience factor. Giving them junk food and chocolate, and buying them the latest video games limit their attention skills – these are not substitutes to good parenting.
Instead, cut fresh vegetables in new shapes and give them to the kids.I do that at the centre and they always come back for more. I indulge them with simple interactive games and they enjoy it tremendously. Kids with Down’s syndrome are a pleasure to work with as they are very pleasant and active all the time. They learn new concepts eagerly and quickly. I am very happy to hear that so many of these kids are being accepted into regular schools and are being given a chance to test their mettle.

We also hold evening classes for adults with speech difficulties.
Most who attend are expatriates who lack confidence when conversing in English or Arabic. We have group counselling and speech programmes for them to overcome this stigma. I remember a man in his mid-thirties who could speak only his native language. He was forced by one of his relatives to join the centre. By the end of the year, he started conversing well in both English and Arabic! Even his boss noticed his improvement and sang his praises. People who have had speech defects since childhood, such as stammering or lisping, also attend.

Speech is the ability that distinguishes  humans from other animals.
It is a gift from God, which helps us exchange ideas and allows us to improve our lives.  When this ability is hindered, people face a major setback in expressing themselves, and they often end up having very low morale. Our centre hopes to improve this morale and boost self confidence.

It is a gratifying feeling to know that kids from the centre have improved.
I gain great satisfaction when I hear that the kids are doing well in their studies and are well on their way  to a more regular life.  When parents come and tell me this, I feel extremely happy and content. With the grace of God Almighty, I couldn’t ask for anything more.