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Tribune News Network
Doha
RAISING a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has a dramatic impact on families. Many parents find themselves in a constant flux of wondering and worrying about how to cope and best help their child.
While there is still room for further enhancement in the services currently available for children and youth with ASD in Qatar, over the last few years there has been a significant change in society's attitudes towards accepting them into the community fold. From more easily accessible clinical services, support groups, behavioural therapies to school-based programmes there is a growing network of support services now available for families in Qatar.
Sidra Medical and Research Center's (Sidra) approach to caring for children with ASD is to provide care for the whole family. The concept ties in closely with Sidra's overall goal to provide patient and family centred care across all facets of health delivery.
At Sidra, the Developmental Paediatrics and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry clinics currently provide multiple services for children and young people with ASD. This includes comprehensive diagnostic assessments and treatment recommendations. The clinics also provide evaluation services for children with comorbid emotional and psychiatric issues.
Dr Fatima Janjua, Division Chief of Developmental Paediatrics, explained that children referred with suspected ASD participate in a multidisciplinary assessment, on the same day, by a team of doctors, psychologists, therapists and nurses. This approach allows for a more accurate and immediate diagnosis, which in turn leads to earlier intervention.
Commenting on the services, Dr Ahsan Nazeer, Division Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry from Sidra, said:"Family is an integral part of the care and significant effort goes into educating them during sessions at our clinic. With the right support to the families they in turn can help their child to learn, grow and thrive. Each family receives a detailed report of initial evaluation about the child. The report provides a valuable record of the current functioning, diagnosis of the child and possible treatment recommendations. Families can share this report with schools and different community organisations to receive appropriate services for their child."
In addition to accepting referrals from Hamad Medical Corporation and Primary Health Care Corporation, the clinics also accept ASD referrals from schools.
"Accepting ASD referrals from schools is unique to Qatar. We are working closely with different schools to provide education, guidance and to help them with children who are in need of evaluation and treatment interventions. Our recommendation and approach for the teachers is to use the SPELL framework which recognises strengths of the child and emphasises that interventions should be based on structure, positive approaches, empathy, low arousal and links (between child's life and various components of the programme)," added Dr Nazeer.
Sidra is currently part of a National Autism Working Group which is under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Health. The group includes a dedicated consortium of various ministries, the public and private sector, hospitals and most importantly parents and care givers who are part of the Qatar Autism Families Association.
The group is working closely to finalise a Qatar National Autism Plan. The plan is based on six pillars: awareness; early recognition and screening; diagnosis and assessment; interventions; education and transition into adolescence, adulthood and elderhood.
Dr Muhammed Waqar Azeem, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Sidra, who is Chair of the National Autism Working Group and Co-Chair of the WISH Autism Forum, said:"The government in Qatar's commitment to supporting families of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder is admirable. As a community and as a nation, our focus for caring for individuals with ASD should be to help them become an integral part of society and to feel safe and respected. I am confident that the national autism plan that is being developed in Qatar will have a major impact in improving the lives of individuals with autism and their families and that eventually, it can be a model for other GCC countries."
