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Massachusetts
organization creates autism partnership in Middle East
(October
2007 Issue)
By Jennifer Chase Esposito
On June 18, the New England Center for Children (NECC) signed a
watershed deal with a health organization in the United Arab Emirates
to form a long-term collaboration that would build a program for
children with social/communication developmental disorders.
The $100 million deal with The Health Authority - Abu Dhabi (HAAD)
- will help create an education program and services to children
with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families.
The deal was signed in Abu Dhabi before Crown Prince General Sheikh
Mohammed Bin Zayed
Al Nahyan and Vincent Strully, Jr., founder and chief executive
officer of NECC.
The money will also be used to build a facility for the program
and housing for its instructors.
"It is a fantastic opportunity for both parties," says William
Ahearn, Ph.D., BCBA, director of research at NECC. "We have a team
of well trained clinicians, a graduate learning environment, and
the resources for providing high quality services to an underserved
population."
According to NECC, plans for the program include opening the first
of eight classrooms where children will receive behavioral instruction
therapy based on Applied Behavior Analysis, a specialty of NECC's,
considered one of world's leading autism-centric institutes.
Throughout the next two years, NECC will add to the UAE program
the same spectrum of services that children in the United States
would receive such as early assessment and intervention, inpatient
services for more severe patients, support services for family members,
professional development for those working with the children and
many others.
At its onset, the program will employ current NECC staff with hopes
of training and qualifying a substantial number of nationals so
that a proportion of services can be provided in Arabic. Six people
will leave by December to begin program preparations such as training
instructors from Abu Dhabi.
To NECC staff interested in making the move, a salary bonus, a
$500 monthly food stipend, a gym membership, and free housing are
on the table for those desiring a one or two-year hiatus from their
posts in Southborough, Mass., where the center is located.
As of this writing Daniel Gould, Ph.D., BCBA, who will run the
program in Abu Dhabi, was out of the country and at the site working
on preparations.
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE and is the wealthiest city
in the Middle East. In 2007, the country added an array of innovative
services to better provide for its people suffering from physical
and mental disabilities. In June, the country opened its first center
for the speech impaired, with laboratories for diagnosing and treating
disabilities in both Arabic and English. And in April, the Ministry
of Social Affairs implemented a "Social Charter Document," that
would help provide services to people with special needs in an effort
to help better integrate them into UAE society.
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