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An early detection app
for children disabilities
includes five pillars, with questions for parents to answer
The Ministry of Social Affairs (MSA) has
developed a mobile app for early detection
of disability in children less than five years
old. The app is scheduled for release this
month.
Mrs. Wafa Hamad Bin Sulaiman Director
of Care and Rehabilitation of the Disabled,
said that the “early intervention” app will
be released to the public this month, and
will be available on most mobile phone
and tablet operating platforms.
She added that the app targets children
less than five years old. It enables parents
to determine if their children have any
disability, its level and help them address
the disability and prevent any further
development.
The app consists of five main pillars, and
each pillar consists of nine questions.
Parents are required to answer each
question according to their diagnosis of the
child’s condition. Based on the results of
the answers, the app determines whether
the child has any intellectual disability and
its level. The app guides parents on how
to properly address the condition.
The app is managed by teams, who
regularly update it, ensuring that its
users can stay up-to-date with advanced
mechanisms to address any disability in
their children and prepare them for school
when they turn 5.
The app seeks to support and enhance
the MSA’s efforts in creating a database of
children prone to disability, thus enabling
them to follow up on their condition and
treat it.
The app primarily targets mothers, being
closer and more supervisory of their kids.
The app is one part of the UAE early
intervention program launched by the
MSA to reduce disabilities and rehabilitate
the disabled to integrate easily in their
academic classes. Mrs. Wafaa mentioned
that the MSA will establish a specialized
center to deal in a direct and interactive
manner with only Emirati children. The
Dubai-based center is scheduled to open
to the public in early October 2015.
The world-class center is the first of its kind
in the UAE. It serves Emirati children from
birth to age 5. It serves three categories:
those prone to disability, those with certain
disabilities and those who growth delays.
Mrs. Wafaa added that the center opening
in early October is part of Phase 1 of a
ministerial decree issued by Mrs. Maryam
Mohammed Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister
of Social Affairs, regarding the early
intervention program. Phase 2 will include
opening early intervention departments at
all special needs centers affiliated with the
MSA.
Ahmad Al-Saeed, specialist in intellectual
disability and speech therapy in children
said that parents’ disability to detect
their children’s disability at an early age
(i.e. in their first years), makes it harder
to address the issue and causes further
development of the disability. Therefore,
the app should enable each parent, even
with lack of any signs of disorder in their
children, to conduct the tests and answer
the questions in the app, so that they can
determine whether or not their children
have some sort of disability.
He continued saying that the app includes
mechanisms to address various forms of
disabilities, which significantly contributes
in providing means of treatment and
limiting the development of the disability,
and in some cases may completely treat
the condition.
Al-Saeed said that parents except when
children are 3 to 5 years old, which
attributes to the development of the
condition. Therefore, early detection help
them identify the condition and find ways to
address it, and guide them to specialized
treatment centers at an early stage.
Dr. Duaa Nofal, speech and language
therapist and auditory rehabilitation
specialist, said that the spread of mobile
phones and tablets in the UAE is very high.
The provision of this app on the app stores
of all mobile phone and tablet operating
systems will contribute in a higher rate of
early detection of disability, especially in
children who are less than three years old.
The app will further help determine speech
or hearing issues, which parents might not
notice, given how young their kids are.
The app identifies
whether kids are prone
to disability, its level
and helps address it
Teams manage the
app periodically
The app provides a
database of kids prone
to disability
Report