Alia
Alia El Naggar, Founder and Clinical Director, Swedish Specialised Centre for Special Needs Image Credit: Supplied

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In conversation with Alia El Naggar, Founder and Clinical Director, Swedish Specialised Centre for Special Needs

How important is early diagnosis? What are the special therapies or programmes that the centre offers for autistic children?

Early diagnosis is key to successful intervention. It can lessen the severity of the symptoms as the younger the child is, the better he/she will learn. If we diagnose early, we start intervention early and then we have better progress. It’s also easier for parents and caregivers to manage the challenging behaviours of kids when they are younger. We offer Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, speech and language therapy, and occupational therapy (OT) on one-to-one basis. We also offer continuous awareness workshops and specialised training sessions for specialists. However, we now focus more on a training initiative called the Family Take the Lead Programme, where we work with the child and the family at the same time so that they can implement it throughout the child’s life. We have seen so many great success stories using this approach.

Family training plays a critical role in meeting the needs of the kids. In this regard how can the centre provide support?

We believe that the family is the main provider even before the therapist. Our Family Take the Lead Programme is mainly based on ABA principles, which are scientific, but implemented in a family-friendly way. The approach can be understood by anyone looking after the child whether it is a sibling or even a maid. We have seen situations where the child goes for therapy for hours a day, but doesn’t show any improvement at home. When we enroll parents for this training session we decrease the number of one-to-one therapy sessions. We are not asking parents to be therapists, but we want them to be involved and that’s why I say that this is not a temporary programme but it’s a lifestyle that you will implement for your child.

Lack of social communication skills is a major deterrent for children with learning disabilities. How do Shadow Teachers provide support here?

Shadow Teachers are now called Learning Support Assistants (LSA) according to the new KHDA guidelines. Previously professionals were just acting as shadows to the child by following the child around everywhere, but the new rule is to phase them out during the teaching of the child. They teach and assist the child in all social interactions, and even academic and other areas. For example, if a LSA is teaching a child to take turns with his peers or siblings she would teach the child the skill and then phase out so that the child can do that independently. There is a huge misconception that Shadow Teachers only shadow the child. In reality the support they provide the child involves teaching and phasing themselves out. They set children up for success rather than just shadowing them throughout the day.

How critical is it for the centre to conduct scheduled training programmes for its therapists?

We have training programmes for anyone who joins the centre. We not only teach them the speciality, but also other important values such as how to connect with the child, how to use body language, and how to communicate with the parents. These soft skills are very important in the field of autism special needs. The field of autism is relatively new in general and started emerging in the 40s so we keep seeing new intervention approaches, therapy ideas and medicines. We follow these updated approaches at the centre and see that our therapists are also on track with this. We also conduct training sessions for therapists to understand other disciplines, for instance, our OT therapist may give training to the ABA therapist on the basics of OT so that everyone understands how their work interconnects and vice versa.

Family training plays a critical role in meeting the needs of the kids. In this regard how can the centre provide support?

We believe that the family is the main provider even before the therapist. Our Family Take the Lead Programme is mainly based on ABA principles, which are scientific, but implemented in a family-friendly way. The approach can be understood by anyone looking after the child whether it is a sibling or even a maid. We have seen situations where the child goes for therapy for hours a day, but doesn’t show any improvement at home. When we enroll parents for this training session we decrease the number of one-to-one therapy sessions. We are not asking parents to be therapists, but we want them to be involved and that’s why I say that this is not a temporary programme but it’s a lifestyle that you will implement for your child.

Lack of social communication skills is a major deterrent for children with learning disabilities. How do Shadow Teachers provide support here?

Shadow Teachers are now called Learning Support Assistants (LSA) according to the new KHDA guidelines. Previously professionals were just acting as shadows to the child by following the child around everywhere, but the new rule is to phase them out during the teaching of the child. They teach and assist the child in all social interactions, and even academic and other areas. For example, if a LSA is teaching a child to take turns with his peers or siblings she would teach the child the skill and then phase out so that the child can do that independently. There is a huge misconception that Shadow Teachers only shadow the child. In reality the support they provide the child involves teaching and phasing themselves out. They set children up for success rather than just shadowing them throughout the day.

How critical is it for the centre to conduct scheduled training programmes for its therapists?

We have training programmes for anyone who joins the centre. We not only teach them the speciality, but also other important values such as how to connect with the child, how to use body language, and how to communicate with the parents. These soft skills are very important in the field of autism special needs. The field of autism is relatively new in general and started emerging in the 40s so we keep seeing new intervention approaches, therapy ideas and medicines. We follow these updated approaches at the centre and see that our therapists are also on track with this. We also conduct training sessions for therapists to understand other disciplines, for instance, our OT therapist may give training to the ABA therapist on the basics of OT so that everyone understands how their work interconnects and vice versa.