Free webinars for parents of children with autism
- 21 Jun 2020
Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter
The Dubai Autism Centre (DAC) organised a webinar entitled “Introduction to Pivotal Response Training (PRT)”, conducted by the DAC Autism Programme Head, Nicholas Orland, on a Facebook live broadcast to target the widest possible segment of parents and professionals working in the special education sector.
Mohammed Al Emadi, Director General and Board Member of Dubai Autism Centre, said: “This initiative comes within the framework of the Centre’s endeavour to educate parents about the requirements of appropriate dealing with children with autism, especially after being away from their specialised services that they used to receive which may lead to skill regression during COVID-19 lockdown period,”
Al Emadi indicated that these online seminars will be provided free of charge through social media platforms to reach the largest possible segment of parents and professionals working in the special education sector, stressing its importance in preserving the acquired behavioural skills of children with autism as well as developing them.
“The online seminars aim to offer support to parents of children with autism who have taken on the role of teacher while schools are closed and home learning is in place,” Al Emadi added.
Nicholas Orland, DAC Head of Autism Programme, said: “The first conducted webinar provided parents with a general overview on the PRT strategy, as well as tips and strategies which they can utilise at home with their children,”
“Pivotal Response Training (PRT) is a variation of Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) type therapy and an evidenced based naturalistic teaching procedure that can be utilised to teach skills critical for development such as communication and social skills,” Orland added.
Speaker Orland is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA) and Licensed Behaviour Analyst (LBA) originally from the United States. He has 18 years of experience working in the field of special needs and is the current Autism Programme Head at Dubai Autism Centre.