The staff and some of the students of Al Noor, the centre for children with special needs, recently visited Dubai International Academy (DIA) in an attempt to incorporate larger sections of society in a communication initiative for school-going children with special needs.

The visit was part of Al Noor’s campaign to create awareness about the concept of Augmentative and Alternative Communications (AAC) and encouraging interaction between AAC users and the community at large.

The campaign targets young people in schools, colleges and public places such as malls. The campaign aims to give participants from the community the opportunity to have a hands-on “communication experience” with the AAC tool and its user.

AAC helps people with complex communication needs to express their wants, requests, opinions, and exchange information effectively, thus enabling them to better integrate into the community.

This may be done through simple communication boards, or high tech specialised equipment. Since communication is a two way process, it is important for everybody within the community who could potentially be a communication partner, to know about AAC.

The Al Noor staff made a presentation on AAC to students of DIA, during which they explained the effective ways of communicating to children with special needs. The presentation had a strong and definitive impact on the young minds.

'As an IB World School, DIA runs a comprehensive “Community and Service” programme for years 7 to 11, as well as a Creativity, Action, Service (CAS) programme for the IB Diploma years in 12 and 13. The CAS programme continually attempts to provide students with opportunities to serve the community,' said Declan Alvaro, CAS coordinator, DIA. 

'This initiative by Al Noor beautifully ties in with the learning outcomes and objectives of these two programmes. We are glad to have associated with Al Noor to promote their special initiative. Indeed, it was very touching to see a dialogue between the two schools. Most students and teachers left the presentation hall with a determination to make a difference,' added Alvaro.-TradeArabia News Service