Special-needs people usually have special gifts, and it is the responsibility of their parents and the wider community to help them realise what those skills are and how they can use them to reach their potential. But doing that at home is not easy, because it requires professional skills and training, especially for those with profound cognitive disabilities.
And this is why Al Jalila Foundation's Ta'alouf programme for parents of children with special needs was established in Dubai. As The National reported yesterday, the free 12-week behavioural training programme helps parents to understand and know how to deal their children. Fatima Al Matrooshi, a mother of a 14-year-old autistic boy, said she picked up many skills after taking the course. Now she is more observant of her son and can better anticipate his needs and recognise the environmental factors that affect his behaviour.
One important aspect that the programme focuses on is the psychological well-being of children with special needs, including teaching parents how to build their child’s self-esteem and to make them more confident about their abilities and what they can achieve. This is critical in empowering them, integrating them into the society and making them more productive in the long run. Special needs children of all ages need this kind of strategy. There are many examples of young people with special needs who have found their strength and excelled at it.
Fujairah Rehabilitation Centre for the Disabled is another place to discover talents. The principal, Aysha Al Najjar, told the paper that the centre is committed to training students to use their abilities "to attract people's attention, not their sympathy". The centre's chocolate workshop, for example, attracts many students who are not only enjoying it, but also good at what they do. Seeing how popular their chocolate is, the key aim is to turn the workshop into a chocolate factory in which they can work.
Al Noor Training Centre for Children With Special Needs is yet another institution and will soon launch an online outlet to sell high-quality products handmade by children with cognitive disabilities.
Children with the same special-needs diagnosis often have a broad range of capabilities, and getting the best out of them requires getting to know each one individually and their weaknesses and strengths. By finding the latter and helping them fulfil their potential, everyone wins.