DUBAI // Children with special needs who live in remote areas will have therapy delivered to their doors by the end of the year.
Two mobile clinics will take speech specialists and physiotherapists to far-flung regions.
“Families will not need to go and search for the service,” said Khaled Al Kamda, director general of Dubai’s Community Development Authority. “We will take it to areas away from the city such as Hatta and Lusayli.
“We already have the staff and therapists and are hoping for the launch soon. It will certainly be before the end of the year.”
Services including free assessment, counselling, physiotherapy, and speech and language therapy will be provided by the Dubai Early Childhood Development Centre.
Families registered with the Community Development Authority will be able to book appointments online.
In June the authority launched the Sanad Relay Centre, where sign language experts take video calls or answer text messages from people with hearing disabilities.
“We have people calling for help from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and even Germany,” Mr Al Kamda said.
“We had a high school student from Saudi Arabia call in because he couldn’t understand a question in an exam paper.
“Our sign language expert helped to explain the meaning of the question – he didn’t help with the answer – and helped the student a great deal.”
The video call and text messaging service is open to people who use Arabic sign language.
rtalwar@thenational.ae
