Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — The Center for Autism Research at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC) has signed three partnership agreements in the last six months with various governmental sectors, according to Dr. Hesham Aldhalaan, director general of the center.

The first partnership was with the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, followed by the Riyadh Education Department and the Child Development Center at King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Hospital, Princess Noura Bint Abdul Rahman University.

These partnerships were dedicated to enhance the role of the Autism Research Center in spreading and exchanging clinical and research experiences with specialists and centers from all over the Kingdom, said Dr. Aldhalaan.

He believed that the agreements would increase the effectiveness of cooperation and integration among different sectors of society.

Dr. Aldhalaan said the three partnerships were in line with the center’s efforts to improve the services offered to people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) meeting the latest and highest international standards, and to emulate leading countries in the intervention and rehabilitation of patients by raising the efficiency of specialists.

He said: “The Applied Behavior Analysis Program has been introduced in partnership with the Ministry of Labor and Social Development. It is one of the most important programs to deal with autism spectrum disorder, which was one of the results of cooperation between the Autism Research Center and the Ministry of Labor and Social Development. It is aimed to empower those who passed the test to become certified professionals for behavioral analysis.”

The center presented this training program to 40 female specialists of the ministry to qualify them for the behavioral analysis techniques during the past two months, while there are still two months to come, where the trainees will be able to qualify for the American Fellowship in Applied Behavior Analysis.

The second partnership was with the Department of Education in the Riyadh Region, which confirmed the role of the center and its efforts to develop the capacity of the educational staff in dealing with ASD, through the training of 50 teachers with two days of workshops for three weeks.

He noted that the program included lectures on the sensory problems of children and their impact on behavior, as well as a series of workshops on the obstacles facing these children in the integration process and how to deal with them.

He said the third partnership was signed with the Child Development Center at King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Hospital at Princess Noura Bint Abdulrahman University to exchange experiences and develop them in order to reach the latest methods of diagnosis and intervention with people with autism spectrum disorder.

“These initiatives and others that preceded or will be implemented soon are the real activations of the principle of uniting efforts in this field, which will contribute to improving and developing care for those with ASD. The Autism Research Center is ready to cooperate with various sectors according to the available means,” Dr. Aldhalaan said.