Khalid Tawalbeh
Doha
With the aim of providing quality education for all students irrespective of their individual abilities, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has established a number of specialised schools for people with special needs, among which is the Al-Hedaya School for Special Needs for Boys in Al Mesilla, which has made a qualitative leap in educating students with needs, by providing a set of special programmes in the fields of behavioural therapy, physiotherapy and other specialised academic activities with a distinguished educational staff.
The Al-Hedaya school is a model for specialised schools was recently established out of the keenness of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to take care of this category of students, and work to qualify them to be useful in life as well to take their chance in their communities, as many of these students have high potential and outstanding talents, through which they can be important elements in society.
During the opening ceremony of the Educational Aids exhibition at the school, Qatar Tribune toured the school and spoke to the school’s staff and parents about the prominent services provided by the school to its students with disabilities with the aim of qualifying them to integrate students with autism spectrum and intellectual disabilities into society.
Hassan Ajran Al Buainain, principal of the school said Al Hedaya school receives its students who are registered through the Special Education Office of the Ministry of Education, which prepares medical reports for each student and sends them to the school, which in turn develops treatment and educational plans for each student based on those reports, in order to qualify this category of students to integrate them into the rest of the state schools.
Buainain highlighted that the school provides services to students with special needs with autism spectrum disorder and those with moderate and mild intellectual disabilities, as well as syndromes.
He added that every student entering Al-Hedaya school is taught individually with a special plan drawn up by everyone related to the student.
“We study each student’s case and the study is presented to the parent to exchange views on the plan, whether it is an academic plan or a behavioral one,” he said.
He added that the Ministry of Education and Higher Education provides special educational care for people with special needs under the supervision of the Department of Special Education and gifted care, according to the individual needs of each student, and through specialised cadres.
“The ministry is working to provide them with various educational opportunities in line with their abilities and potentials on the one hand, and push them to contribute effectively to building and developing society on the other hand. It also provides educational and psychological assessment services for students with special needs in order to identify the school that meets their needs, and then offer the best educational services and alternatives for them,” Buainain said.
He said students’ educational curricula are adapted to them according to the educational goals specified in their individual educational plan, for people with intellectual disabilities and syndromes, autism disorders, as well as those with a decrease in cognitive abilities.
He said, “We have support services in the form of occupational therapy, physiotherapy, behavioural therapy and speech therapy, all of which are supervised by a teaching staff and specialists with competencies in the field of special education, some of whom have master’s and doctoral degrees.”
For his part, Dr Waleed Al Sayed, a special education specialist and supervisor of Al-Hidaya school at the ministry, stressed the school’s programmes contribute to high rates of progress in students’ behaviour and their assimilation of the curricula, as well as improving their mental condition.
“There are special therapeutic educational programmes for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and those with communication problems, as well as for children diagnosed with language impairment. Al-Hedaya is one of the first schools to implement these educational programmes,” he said.
He added that Al-Hidaya school is based on inclusiveness in education, which works to rehabilitate a child with autism from all aspects.
“We do not pay attention to the behavioural side and neglect the speech side, and we treat each child individually, as children differ in abilities and they also differ in the response rate to treatment,” he said. “The specialists at the school also break into the child’s world and try to search for points of need and strength in order to find out the aspects in which it is possible to treat, and they are also interested in developing the child’s abilities to communicate with others, break the barrier of fear in them.”
Hassan Sallam, deputy director of the school for academic affairs, underlined that Al-Hedaya school is one of the most important and distinguished schools in the country.
He added that the school also cares about the children’s social life by organising a number of events and activities in order to enhance their community participation, pointing out that the school organised this exhibition of educational aids where the students presented a set of artworks that highlight their talents.
He said the aim of these events is to develop students’ artistic skills, as well as to emphasise the importance of coexistence in the community, as the student with autism suffers from social difficulties.
He said that many of the students have changed for the better through daily follow-up from school and home.
Dr Osama Fouad, coordinator of special education at Al Hedaya school, said the school provides a range of distinctive services such as the sensory stimulation room, visual and audio effects that help improve the development of thinking, intelligence and social skills in students with autism, and the sensory stimulation room provides the opportunity to enjoy and control a variety of sensory experiences.
He added that the technological and technical services provided by the school contribute to increasing concentration, attention and perception in children, developing or reactivating the five senses, developing language and improving pronunciation, as well as visual-motor synergy.
Dr Obaida Shtayyat, a specialist in special education and psychology at the school, said the school provides mental, behavioral and skill development services for students, as the specialists at the school work in an integrated manner, in order to determine the therapeutic priorities for each student.
“Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a scientifically proven approach developed to support individuals with autism spectrum disorder or other behavioural or developmental disorders in several ways. “Applied Behavior Analysis is the most scientifically accredited and most widely used programme to train children with autism spectrum disorder of various age groups around the world,” Shtayyat said.
He added that the school has different means of assistance from traditional schools to suit the category of students with special needs.
Mubarak Al Hamad, father of student Fahd, one of the students at the school, said: “I noticed the big changes for the better in my son within a short period of time. Al-Hedaya school relies on the latest electronic devices to develop the abilities of people with disabilities and provides care and attention to students in order to rehabilitate them and integrate them into normal life.” he said.
“The school uses assistive technology to develop students’ abilities and their skills by relying on the latest electronic devices that help the teacher in his work and open the pupils’ minds,” he added.
The mother of student Mubarak Al Sulaiti praised the administrative and teaching staff of the school, who work to translate the policies, plans and directions of the state and the ministry in improving the quality of education for all groups of society, including those with disabilities.
