• First day; More than 30 families of children with autism and language disorders were contacted; they came and had a meeting the Scientific Committee in charge of programs at the Centre. The committee consists of highly specialized team, (a psychiatrist, Dr. Haider Maliki autism specialist, with three university teachers, Dr. Hana Dulaimi, Dr. Ahlam Shaheed and Dr. Zeid Bahloul, all from Al-Mustansiriya University / College of Basic Education), all are volunteers in the centre. In addition to them, the Director of the Centre Ms. Nebras Saadun, a specialist in the Autism field, is a member in that committee. It is for the first time in IRAQ, a team of Psychiatrists and Psychologists work together to identify and diagnose cases for persons with autism or other disorders. By which, the centre was able to provide the families with the information about the type of disability their children have, rather than the difficulties and troubles rising from travelling abroad for the diagnosis.
• Second day; in association with the Iraqi Charities Forum,  a donation of 75,000 ID (£ 45) per childe were given to the poor children and/or orphans with special needs, whom are registered within Al-Rami Charity for the care of mental disability.
• Third day;  the representative of the Iraqi Charities Forum visited the centre on the occasion of the opening, which matches with the World Children's Day, and gave the children new cloths.
• Fourth and fifth day: Since the announcement for the opening of the specialist canter, we received too many calls from families living in provinces other than Baghdad asking to register their children with our centre, and due to the long distances, and the lack autism centres and information in their areas, the centre made an intensive training course for those families and to explain all the programs used in education.

• The centre treats the children through many programs, including speech therapy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. 
• All the staff members are volunteers, any donation to the centre goes either to enhance the building or the therapy and teaching kits.
  

 

Ref: Specialized Centre for Autism