Ministry of National Guard - Health Affairs in collaboration with King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS) will host the 3rd Annual Autism Conference & Workshops entitled “Autism Across the Lifespan” on the 13th - 15th of May 2014 at the KSAU-HS Convention Center.
Dr. Abeer Al Harbi, Consultant in Pediatrics Development & Behavior, Head of the Scientific Committee, and Autism Team Leader in King Abdulaziz Medical City, pointed out that hosting this conference aims to raise awareness about autism, highlight its characteristics, how to manage and deal with its challenges as well as to encourage teamwork for building the lives of people with Autism. In addition, the conference will provide evidence based educational materials about this disorder across the lifespan as well defining and dealing with psychological, social and educational challenges facing students with autism.
Furthermore, hands-on training will be offered in a series of workshops provided by International & Local professional experts covering many topics such as adolescent & Autism, Diet vs. Drugs, Basic language and learning skills, teaching Autistic individuals and sensory integration programs.
The Annual Autism Conference targets physicians, health care professionals, service providers, Special Educators as well as Families and Caregivers of adults and children with Autism.
Dr. Abeer explained that autism is a chronic disorder that affects children from all ethnic, social and economic groups, and it is characterized by impaired social interactions, both verbal and non-verbal communication skills and repetitive or stereotyped behavior.
However, the severity and impact of this disorder varies from one person to anther.
Recently, on March 2014, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released studies and statistics which indicated that about 1 in 68 children has been identified with autism and there are more than 67 million people with autism around the world.