Dubai: The Customers Council of the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has decided to include autistic people in the special needs category, offering them facilities provided to people with special needs, it was announced on Monday.

Mohammad Obaid Al Mulla, Chief Executive Officer of the RTA’s Marine Agency and Chairman of RTA Customers Council, said the inclusion of this category of people came in the context of the RTA’s ongoing drive in adopting the best practices to uplift the level of services to its customers with special needs. “Persons with special needs are entitled to facilities and services including dedicated parking, discounts and special seats in public transport including buses, the Metro and the marine transport,” he said.

Al Mulla said the aim of providing services to people with special needs is to integrate them into the society and utilise their capacities in the building and progress of the UAE.

Solution package

The Council took into consideration opinions and suggestions by people with special needs, and incorporated them into the package of solutions. Al Mulla said that solutions included incorporation of autistic people, visually and hearing-impaired individuals and the physically challenged individuals to the list of beneficiaries from RTA services.

The RTA will provide special needs parking stickers to their vehicles or vehicles of their relatives (if used by them) and those of their related organisations. The solutions also included issuing cards with their photos and designated counters at customer service centres.

The Council recommended the provision of parking cards to be issued by the RTA based on medical evidence.
The Council also recommended designated pick-up and drop-off points for short periods at the main entrances to public places allowing relatives of the people with special needs to park their vehicles for a few minutes.
Al Mulla said the Council stressed the importance of issuing a Guide incorporating all services provided by the RTA to people with special needs and ensuring its distribution to all service-providing centres including the Metro.

The RTA also urges major project developers in Dubai to conform to the international standards and specifications required by the RTA. This includes the construction of pavements and designing of parking spaces compatible with the best world practices in the welfare of people with special needs .

Excerpted from NHS Choices

Full Article Here

By Dr Alicia White

If you’ve just read a health-related headline that has caused you to spit out your morning coffee (“Coffee causes cancer” usually does the trick), it’s always best to follow the Blitz slogan: “Keep Calm and Carry On”. On reading further, you’ll often find the headline has left out something important, such as, “Injecting five rats with really highly concentrated coffee solution caused some changes in cells that might lead to tumours eventually. (Study funded by The Association of Tea Marketing)”.

The most important rule to remember is: don’t automatically believe the headline. It is there to draw you into buying the paper and reading the story. Would you read an article called, “Coffee pretty unlikely to cause cancer, but you never know”? Probably not.

To avoid spraying your newspaper with coffee in the future, you need to analyse the article to see what it says about the research it is reporting on. Bazian (the company I work for) has appraised hundreds of articles for Behind The Headlines on NHS Choices, and we’ve developed the following questions to help you figure out which articles you’re going to believe and which you’re not.

Does the article support its claims with scientific research?

Your first concern should be the research behind the news article. If an article touts a treatment or some aspect of your lifestyle that is supposed to prevent or cause a disease, but doesn’t give any information about the scientific research behind it, then treat it with a lot of caution. The same applies to research that has yet to be published…

Click here to continue the full article.

The study will be measuring a child’s ability to spot the differences between two images on a computer screen and point out what is missing. This study is approved by the London Ethics Committee, with the approval of the British Psychological Society, and under the umbrella of Middlesex University, Dubai.

The study can be concluded in three sessions of thirty minutes each, and may be conducted in the participant’s home or learning/therapy center, in any of the emirates.

Guidelines for the children’s abilities are as follows. Parents who are interested, or who have further questions may contact:

Eleanore Coulthard
Psychology Department – Middlesex University Dubai
+971 50 655 2753 EC507@mdx.ac.uk

At this stage, Eleanore is in the process of identifying a large enough sample of Autistic children to make her study viable.

1. Aged between 7-12 years old
2. Diagnosed with Autism based on established criteria (DSM-IV)
3. No co-morbid conditions – e.g. Epilepsy
4. Normal vision (or corrected with glasses/ lenses)
5. Familiar and not-averse to working with Computers

• Able to sit down in front of a computer for ~30 minutes
• Able to use buttons on a keyboard to express whether they have noticed a change in the visual scene, i.e press the space bar when they notice a change in the picture
• Able to verbally or non verbally express where the change occurred,  i.e. point to the part of the screen that has changed.

6. Familiar with working with Computers

“In 1998, Andrew Wakefield, a gastroenterologist at London’s Royal Free Hospital, published a study in the prestigious medical journal Lancet that linked the triple Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine with autism and bowel disorders in children. The study — and Wakefield’s subsequent public statements that parents should refuse the vaccines — sparked a public health panic that led vaccination rates in Britain to plunge.

Wakefield’s study has since been discredited, and the MMR vaccine deemed to be safe. But now medical authorities in the U.K. have also ruled that the manner in which Wakefield carried out his research was unethical. In a ruling on Jan. 28, The General Medical Council, which registers and regulates doctors in the U.K., ruled that Wakefield acted “dishonestly and irresponsibly” during his research and with “callous disregard” for the children involved in his study.”

…

“The panel also criticized Wakefield for failing to disclose that, while carrying out the research, he was being paid by lawyers acting for parents who believed their children had been harmed by the MMR jab.

The panel’s ruling follows a refutation of Wakefield’s research from the scientific community. Ten of 13 authors in the Lancet study have since renounced the study’s conclusions. The Lancet has said it should not have published the study in the first place, and various other studies have failed to corroborate Wakefield’s hypothesis.”

Children aged 2-5 years with autism or other ASD had similar blood Hg concentrations to TD controls after adjustment for a variety of home and medical Hg sources. This finding was maintained when analysis was restricted to non-fish eaters.  Blood Hg levels in both controls and cases were very close to those of a nationally representative sample of 1-5 year olds in the U.S.

Incorrectly diagnosed, elevated mercury levels in children with autism are often used as justification for chelation therapy, a treatment in which patients are given a drug that binds to heavy metals to be excreted in urine.  This treatment is approved for severe lead poisoning, but has no valid basis for use in the treatment of autism.  Possible risks include Nausea,v omiting, body pains, neutropenia, and death.  

Institute of Medicine Immunization Safety Review states that “No scientific evidence … that chelation is an effective therapy.” *source

[Hertz-Picciotto I and others. Blood mercury concentrations in CHARGE Study: Children with and without autism. Environmental Health Perspectives, Oct 19, 2009] The complete report is available at http://www.ehponline.org/members/2009/0900736/0900736.pdf

Autism Treatment: Science Hijacked to Support Alternative Therapies
Researchers’ Fears of Misuse of Their Work Comes True

Autism Treatment: Success Stories More Persuasive to Some Than Hard Data
One Dad, a Doctor, Says He Was “Fooled”

Autism Treatment: Questionable Treatments for Children with Autism

Dubai Healthcare City
Al Razi Bldg, Block “A”, Suite 2005
Dubai, UAE

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Working hours: 8:30 am to 6:00 pm
Home-based therapy available from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm
Established in the United States since 2001, operating in the UAE since January, 2007

Services Offered:

• Psychological Testing and Services (including diagnostic testing)
• ABA treatment/Discrete Trial Therapy
• School Shadowing
• Inclusion/Mainstream School Support Services
• Floortime
• TEACHH
• Social Skills Training
• Social Skills/Play Groups
• Speech Therapy and Assessment
• Occupational Therapy & Assessment
• Parent Training Workshops
• Professional Training Workshops
• Parent Support and Education Groups
• Professional Support Groups

How should parents contact Stepping Stones if they are seeking your services in regards to a child suspected of autism or other ASD disorder? What is the recommended process?

They should contact our office at 04-363-5433 and ask to speak with someone regarding services (Operations Manager, Clinical Assistant and/or Clinical Director-at least one of these individuals can be available). Then such individuals go over services offered and schedule an initial consultation process.

This is a free consultation once it takes place. Once this process is scheduled, clinical staff meet with parent to review entire services, discuss research that supports the field, discuss how Stepping Stones provides clinically qualified staff and discusses staff training process as well as history of Stepping Stones and the number of years we’ve been in the field.

Furthermore they answer questions the parents may have and then recommend an assessment to begin this process Comprehensive assessment includes: Psych Assessment, Behavioral Assessment, Speech Assessment and Occupational Therapy assessment. Once the assessment is scheduled and completed, the family meets with the clinicians/evaluators and reviews the detailed assessment report and goals and objectives then makes treatment recommendations based on assessment outcomes. At this time services are ready to commence.

How should parents contact you if they are seeking services for a child who has already been diagnosed with autism? What treatment options do you offer?

The process noted above would be completed, however the Psychological portion of the assessment may not be necessary if the diagnosis has already been given and provided it’s given from a reliable source where actual testing measures were used to assess the client. Then treatment services would be ready to commence of which can be a combination of all services noted in question #5.

I hope this information has been useful. Please also note that the Clinical Director and founder (myself) of all 5 branches (US & Dubai) is based in Dubai and possesses over 18 years of experience in the field of autism and is a Clinical Psychologist that is also Board Certified Behavior Analyst trained. Therefore, she is able to offer her expertise in Dubai on an ongoing basis. We provide services to over 400 families and have over 200 staff worldwide offer quality services to the Autism population and such staff are extensively trained in ABA and receive certification prior to working with clients and in addition they are educationally qualified (bachelor’s and master’s level staff).

Information provided by:

Vivian David-Nicolas, PsyD
Clinical Director
Stepping Stones Center for Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Inc.

We know you are on the front lines of the autism battle- that you struggle daily to get the best care, to find the most accurate information, and provide the best future for your child that you can. We recognize your determination, and we are hoping you can share your experience.

AutismUAE.com is now accepting parent reviews of service providers in the UAE. If you have had a good experience, an educational experience, or even a poor experience, please share it, and we will publish your reviews so that other parents may benefit and learn from them.

To learn about creating your review, please download this document, read the questions, and then email your feedback to editor@autismuae.com. Your reviews will be featured in tandem with the service provider pages, so that parents looking for information will not only get working hours and phone numbers, but also valuable input from your first-hand experience.

Making information about autism and treatment more freely available is one way that we can empower parents and help them make more informed, more educated decisions about their children’s futures. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best Regards,

AutismUAE.com

(document also available in PDF format)

“There are 11 established and 22 emerging treatments for autism spectrum disorders, according to an evidence-based report released Tuesday on current available treatments.

The report from the National Autism Center finds that almost 90 percent of established treatments — or those that have compelling evidence of success among most people with autism — are behaviorally-based.

Those treatments include models known as antecedent package, behavioral package, comprehensive behavioral treatment for young children, joint attention intervention, modeling, naturalistic teaching strategies, peer training package, pivotal response treatment, schedules, self-management and story-based intervention package… “

Click for full article here.

Worried about your child?  The simplest way for a parent to determine whether their child may have Autism or a similar disorder is to use the list of criteria from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition.  It is easy enough for even parents to be able to evaluate their children within a reasonable degree, allowing for early recognition and thus, further medical assessment and intervention.

Additional methods of diagnosis are available, the simplest for toddlers being the Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT) typically issued by a GP at the child’s 18 month checkup.  There is also the M-CHAT, or Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers.

The American Psychiatric Association guidelines are as follows:

A. To qualify for a diagnosis, a person must have a total of six or more items from (1), (2), and (3), with at least two from (1) and one each from (2) and (3):

1. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, manifest by at least two of the following:

• A. Marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors, such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures and gestures, to regulate social interaction
• B. Failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
• C. Lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g., by lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest)
• D. Lack of social or emotional reciprocity

2. Qualitative impairment in communication, as manifest by at least one of the following:

• A. Delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language (not accompanied by an attempt to compensate through alternative modes of communication such as gesture or mime)
• B. In individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others
• C. Stereotyped and repetitive use of language, or idiosyncratic language
• D. Lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe, or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level

3. Restrictive repetitive and stereotypic patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:

• A. Encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
• B. Apparently inflexible adherence to specific nonfunctional routines or rituals
• C. Stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g., hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
• D. Persistent preoccupation with parts of objects.

B. Delays or abnormal functioning in at least one of the following areas, with onset prior to age 3 years:

1. Social interaction

2. Language as used in social communication

3. Symbolic or imaginative play

C. The disturbance is not better accounted for by Retts Disorder or childhood disintegrative disorder.