Autism Awareness Month

The following is an update from Maha Helali, regarding April events held for Autism Awareness Month:

Since 2005, ADVANCE has launched and held the “April is the Autism Awareness Month” campaign in Egypt, with the aim of creating awareness about Autism, advocating for early intervention for better prognosis for the children’s future, showing the children’s strengths as active participants in society and to allow for their inclusion within the community in general.

ADVANCE recruits from amongst 80 organizations active in the field of catering services to persons with Autism and their families from different governorates in Egypt, to participate in the following functions:

1)    An Arts’ Exhibition for the children’s arts and crafts productions hosted by the Ministry of Culture at the Prince Taz Palace

2)    A Sport’s Gala hosted by the Wadi Degla Sports Club in Zahraa Al-Maadi

3)    A seminar hosted by Al-Sawi Cultural Wheel in Zamalek with the aim of creating awareness and disseminating information.

4)    A two day conference entitled “Medical & Educational Innovations in the Field of Autism,” in Aswan.

5)    A variety of TV and radio coverings.

OT Blogs

Here is a site that has links to OT Blog feeds; however, as I went through them some are no longer active: http://www.otblogs.org/

Feedback regarding Saudi OT Conference this month

Farah Sabra, an Occupational Therapist from Lebanon, recently attended the 1st Saudi Arabian Occupational Therapy Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.


She very much enjoyed her experience and provided the following information:


“The Occupational Therapy department at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences and the National Guard-Health Affairs in collaboration with Postgraduate Education and Academic Affairs, has organized the 1st Saudi Arabian Occupational Therapy Conference in Riyadh on 06-07 April 2010.

From a personal point of view, the conference was a huge success. It was beyond expectations as it was the first OT symposium. The organizers made great efforts to make this conference successful. They were very receptive, friendly and helpful.

Each topic presented and discussed was of great importance. Lectures started always on time and people were amazingly respecting the time table. Almost every attendee and presenter expressed their amazement by how organized and rich the conference was. Although the back to back lectures were a little tiring, every one made sure not to miss any of them.   

The main objectives of the conference were to exchange knowledge and standards with international organizations and therapists, as well as, highlighting the recent advances and technologies in the Occupational Therapy fields. The conference also aimed to discuss strategies for promoting the role of Occupational Therapy in Rehabilitation in the Arab world.


The conference targeted a variety of audiences such as occupational therapists, physical therapists, orthotics, prosthetics, vocational therapists and physicians.


13 international Occupational Therapists form Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, United States of America, Switzerland and Italy, as well as, 4 Occupational Therapists from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Jordan presented a variety of topics. 


The following topics were covered:

·        The viability of OT in the 21^st century

·        Defining OT concepts

·        OT’s unique approach to case management

·        WFOT revised minimum standards for the education of Occupational Therapists: promoting evidence-based education and practice.

·        Depressive symptomatology in Dementia.

·        Dementia and the role of OT

·        Assessing and managing pain in older persons with Alzheimer’s disease.

·        Pain and the therapeutic media of art

·        Falls prevention initiative at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital

·        Transition to adulthood for persons with CP and Spina Bifida

·        Understanding sensory challenges

·        Early detection and prevention of oral sensory defensiveness associated with oral feeding

·        The role of Play and Choice in the treatment of emotionally disturbed children

·        Variability in gross motor and fine motor development in young children

·        Creative OT intervention for brain injured adolescent

·        Principles of OT in burned children

·        Enhancing the quality of life of burn survivors within a uniquely Saudi Arabian context

·        The constraint induced movement therapy for stroke survivors in Jordan

·        Function and structure of the foot/Role of OT in foot problems

·        The cause of pain at the base of the thumb (CMC joint)

·        The incidence and variation of accessory tendons of the APL to the trapezium.

·        Matching persons to assistive technology

·        Telerehabilitation-lessons learned over a decade

·        Congnistat “the neuro behavioral cognitive status examination”. Standardization of the Arabic Version. 

Additional workshops on Hand Therapy and Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) were held on the 8^th of April.


It is worth mentioning that the fun part wasn’t omitted from the conference’s schedule. The organizers made sure to generously arrange a few outings to interesting places which was a nice opportunity to be introduced to the Saudi Arabian culture.” 

Thank you, Farah, for the feedback. If anyone else who attended would also like to share their feedback, please post comments on this posting or email me directly.

Hopefully, we will have more yearly OT conferences in the M.E., as well as, more frequent opportunities for continuing education in the region.

Laura

Saudi OT Club

History of OT in Saudi Arabia:

"The history of Occupational Therapy in Saudi Arabia is relatively a young one and can be estimated to be approximately 25-years old. Some organization offered a Diploma Programme in Occupational Therapy that graduated Saudi Occupational Therapy assistants for a couple of years. There are Occupational Therapists working in special needs schools and in major hospitals around the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Still, access to Occupational Therapy was limited to a small scale of the population. 

Since then, Occupational Therapy is slowly developing and expanding its horizons in Saudi Arabia as more health services realize its vital role in promoting patients' independence and in adapting their home environment to maximize performance in daily activities. The Ministry of Health as well as some of the major hospitals are offering scholarships to study Occupational Therapy abroad. There is also a future plan to start an Occupational Therapy College within the King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.

However, there is still no recognized association for Occupational Therapy that can formulate a framework for Occupational Therapists working in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the aim of creating the SAOT club is to promote high standards of practice within the profession, promote continuing professional development and promote Occupational Therapy to other health professionals both as a concept and in practice.” 

If you would like more information about OT in Saudi Arabia, go to http://www.saotclub.org/

  

(If anyone has any information related to the development of OT in the M.E., it would be my pleasure to share it on this blog).

April is OT Awareness Month

I recently presented a lecture, 'Introduction to OT', for the staff in the Geriatrics and Gerontology Department at Ain Shams University Hospital, Abbasyia.

I was invited by Dr. Ahmed Shawky Mohammedin. He heard about OT while attending a conference in Malta and he was interested in sharing this knowledge with his colleagues. He felt his patients in the geriatric department could definitely benefit from OT services.

The presentation was an overview of OT (i.e. educational background of OT's, where OT's work, who OT's work with, and what is involved in an OT assessment and treatment). Various examples of how OT can benefit geriatric cases were also discussed.

(left to right) Dr. Youmna Al-Gazzar, Resident of Geriatric Medicine inpatient department, Dr Rania Abou-Hashem, Lecturer of Geriatric Medicine, Geriatrics and Gerontology department, Ain Shams Faculty of Medicine, Laura Efinger, OT/L, Dr. Sara Hamza, Assistant Professor of Geriatrics Gerontology, Head of Geriatrics and Gerontology department, Ain Shams University Hospital, Dr. Hany Ibrahim, Resident of Geriatric Medicine, Geriatrics Intensive Care Unit, and Dr Ahmed Shawky Mohammedin, Assistant Lecturer of Geriatrics and Gerontology department, Ain Shams Faculty of Medicine.

(left to right) Dr. Doha Rashidy, Assistant Lecturer of Geriatric Medicine, Geriatrics and Gerontology dpt, Ain Shams Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Rania Abou-Hashem, Lecturer of Geriatric Medicine, Geriatrics and Gerontology dpt, Ain Shams Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Ghada Farag, Assistant Lecturer of Geriatric Medicine, Geriatrics and Gerontology dpt, Ain Shams Faculty of Medicine, Laura Efinger, OT/L, Dr. Sara Hamza, Assistant Professor of Geriatrics and Gerontology, Head of Geriatrics and Gerontology department, Ain Shams University Hospital, Dr. Hany Ibrahim, Resident of Geriatric Medicine, Geriatrics Intensive Care Unit, and Dr. Ahmed Shawky Mohammedin, Assistant Lecturer of Geriatrics and Gerontology dpt, Ain Shams Faculty of Medicine.

The department would be eager to have occupational therapists assisting with their clients. If anyone is interested in volunteering, they can contact Dr. Sarah A. Hamza, Head of Geriatrics and Gerontology department: hasarah_2000@yahoo.com.

Perhaps you are an OT looking to gain some work experience, wanting to help others less fortunate than yourself or simply wanting to spend some time experiencing a new culture then perhaps volunteering in the inpatient department is the project for you!

Recent OT graduates and students on mid-year or summer breaks are welcome to spend some time volunteering in the inpatient department, as well! 

Laura