Dar Al-Hekma seminar shares know-how for caring children with special needs

THE Special Education Department in Dar Al-Hekma University organized the third “Our Contribution Transcended” annual seminar on the University’s campus in Jeddah on Monday.

The event aimed to serve the community by spreading awareness and by improving the quality of services provided in the field of special education.

More than 500 women attended the seminar. The attendees were mainly parents and special education teachers, supervisors, superintendents and principals of public and private schools in Jeddah.

The seminar was organized by faculty members in the Special Education Program to track learning disabilities. The seminar gauged the need for special education in the community. It included a number of lectures focusing on learning difficulties and how to deal with them at home and school. The event also included a presentation of special education support services and educational aids. Also, it highlighted the government and private centers’ services for special needs children.

A number of Dar Al-Hekma graduates, who were distinguished in both professional and academic fields, attended the forum.

Dr. Munira Jamjoom delivered an inspiring speech in which she stressed the importance of graduating students in the field of special education. “Because, through their knowledge and work, they can change society’s perception of this marginalized group,” she said.

Jamjoom is one of the first graduates of Dar Al-Hekma. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education back in 2004 and then pursued her postgraduate studies in the United States.

“Dar Al-Hekma University’s vision is the engine that built the strategic plans that goes hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Education’s vision in delivering education that competes globally and contributes to building society locally. It is Dar Al-Hekma University’s belief that teachers are the key role players for the success of this strategy. The university introduced the latest and most successful special education theories to enable the teachers to graduate community leaders and entrepreneurs regardless of their disadvantages,” said Dr. Suhair Al-Qurashi, president of Dar Al-Hekma.

“The Special Education Programs at Dar Al-Hekma is distinguished for qualifying leader graduates in the field of special education. The students receive training in the latest programs that serve this category in school integration and personalized education, which is embodied Saudi Vision 2030. This is designed to provide equal educational opportunities to all students in a healthy school environment regardless of their abilities. The aim of this year’s event is to introduce the latest scientific theories and methods applied in this field,” said Dr. Nadia Taibah, chair of Special Education Department in Dar Al-Hekma.

The seminar ran the whole day and the discussions covered several topics including “Parents between Legislation and Services”, “Intervention Response Paradigm”, “Behavioral Analysis and Autism” and “Language Development in Children and Ways to Reinforce Them”.

The forum also included a number of scientific posters from a number of researchers in the Kingdom.

“The seminar seeks to raise awareness about learning difficulties in the school community in particular and work toward the integration of different disciplines in order to provide quality services for this category. This is only possible by improving the professional and educational performance of people working in this area,” said Nouf Al-Amri, a faculty member and field training supervisor for Learning Disabilities track at Dar Al-Hekma.

Part of the event was a display of the senior students’ educational posters. These posters were based on intensive research and tackled different special education topics. The posters visualized topics like how to identify learning difficulties and shared the best strategies to deal with them.  — SG