JEDDAH — Khadija Attar Center for Children with Special Needs organized in cooperation with the Department of Pediatrics in Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital and the Department of Special Education at the University of Jeddah (Department of special education for girls) an open day for hospitalized children in the hospital.
Recreational activities were included for children whose health conditions prevented their participation in the Eid holidays with their peers. They were also given valuable gifts in the presence of their families and those who visited them.
And on this occasion the Center’s Director Nada Zaza indicated that the Center’s members who visited the hospitalized children decided on the basis of their condition that they can participate in this open day after obtaining the approval of their families and their physicians.
She indicated that the open day of recreational activities made many children happy since they have been deprived of the joy of the Eid festivities. This day delighted them, and at the end of the day of festivity gifts were distributed to all participating children on behalf of the contributing organizations.
Nada Zaza stated that the Khadija Attar Center was established in January 2011 under the care of Dr. Mazen Faqih as a nonprofit center.
The center serves children with special needs such as children with Down Syndrome and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and who have learning difficulties and retardation in mental abilities.
She indicated that all medical services to these children are under the care and supervision of psychiatrists, pediatricians and doctors specialized in brain and neurological conditions and speech therapy in children. The children were also provided with childhood nutrition.
The center seeks to provide medical and educational services along with rehabilitative as well as entertaining services to these children in which all these services are integrated as one.
As to the upcoming programs and the aspirations of the center, Nada stated that the center organizes school visits, lectures and educational seminars designed to familiarize the society with this important community of children with special needs and who are an integral part of the society.
A number of doctors and specialists have also participated in order to familiarize the society with the meaning of autism in children.
She added that the center does not only provide services for children with special needs, but also provides medical and psychological counseling and educational focus for parents of children so they could readily accept that they have a child with special needs.
This is due to a lack of understanding of the symptoms of special needs in some families who have children in need of such specialized care and which is provided by the center.
She stressed that the center is concerned with these children as a sense of social responsibility towards the community. The center seeks to deliver its noble mission through the children by integrating them into the society through the concerted efforts by the family and the community in order that they do not become a liability on society.
