Mothers of autistic children receive training

AMMAN — The Society for the Care of Gifted Autistic Children and the Association of Al Baraka Charitable Foundation are holding a free training course for 23 mothers of autistic children, from the society released Tuesday. 

The three-day course, held under the title “How to be your child’s trainer”, covers behaviour modification and speech therapy techniques. 

The course, which concludes on Thursday, is the first of several planned training courses to take place in other governorates this year in coordination with the Ministry of Social Development, the society said.

On the first day, trainer Thikra Haj Hussein, who holds an MA in special education from Strasbourg University in France, reviewed the stages to overcome bad behaviour, how to provide a safe and healthy environment for autistic children and methods to encourage them to learn and develop.

Haj Hussein, who is currently the manager of a centre in Jeddah, stressed the importance of social integration for autistic children. 

In a discussion, the participants shared their experiences with the trainer, who gave them guidance and stressed that mothers should not feel frustrated. 

In the next two days, trainer Iman Darwish, a speech therapist, will give a course on speech techniques.

“The cooperation between Baraka foundation and the Society for the Care of Gifted Autistic Children is aimed at helping families in need and providing the required training and rehabilitation for the parents and their children from all segments in Jordan,” the statement quoted Ali Al Qatarenh , CEO of the Association of Al Baraka Charitable Foundation, as saying 

Qatarenh added that the foundation has decided to provide free high quality services to underprivileged families with autistic children due to the high cost of such training and employ national and international experts in this regard.

The Society for the Care of Gifted Autistic Children thanked the Social Development Ministry for its support to plans and programmes aimed at strengthening mothers’ role in helping children with disabilities join their community.