FUJAIRAH // Public school teachers in remote areas are being taught to distinguish between naughty children and those who may need help with a hyperactivity disorder.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) goes largely unnoticed as it is mistaken for unruly behaviour, said Hanne al Gurg, the chief executive of Indemaj, a non-profit organisation working with schools in remote areas of the UAE.
"There is very little awareness of causes, symptoms and ways to tackle the disorder in these schools," said Ms al Gurg. "That these schools are also far out means resources and services are few as well."
Indemaj is conducting workshops in 10 schools on how to develop an inclusive environment and cater for students with mixed abilities.
Children with ADHD are often inattentive and overactive, unaware of positive ways to channel energy. It is common, affecting between 3 and 5 per cent of school aged children.
At a session for teachers at the Ibn Al Nafees Primary Boys School in Fujairah last week, Ruba Tabari, an educational psychologist at the Dubai Community Health Centre, told them to exploit the positive aspects of ADHD.
"Pupils with the disorder can be stubborn but that needn't always be a bad thing," Ms Tabari said. "If it is channelled in a way that it leads to a child completing work, then it has proved to be beneficial."
Noura Eid al Qubaisi, a special needs educator at Ibn Al Nafees, said these sessions were important as teachers were not equipped to understand troubled pupils.
"They do not know if a child is agitated it's not intentional. Teachers get frustrated in the classroom and shout," Ms al Qubaisi said. "Instead, they could ask the child to help them in the classroom. It motives them and keeps them calm."
Ms al Qubaisi said the school was trying to tailor learning programmes for each child.
Ms al Gurg said next up there would be training in screening to identify the disorder.
"We also plan to start … counselling and awareness sessions for the parents so they can manage their child's disorder effectively at home as well," she said.
aahmed@thenational.ae
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Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
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Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
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Friday Stuttgart v Cologne (Kick-off 10.30pm UAE)
Saturday RB Leipzig v Hertha Berlin (5.30pm)
Mainz v Borussia Monchengladbach (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Union Berlin v SC Freiburg (5.30pm)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (5.30pm)
Sunday Wolfsburg v Arminia (6.30pm)
Werder Bremen v Hoffenheim (9pm)
Bayer Leverkusen v Augsburg (11.30pm)
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The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
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- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
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A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
