Monday 18 / November / 2024
Muscat: Two workshops on autism spectrum disorder will be offered for free next Friday and Saturday.
The workshops on understanding autism are an initiative of Steve Johnson, Golf Course Superintendent at Al Mouj Golf.
Johnson told the Times of Oman that the challenges he and his wife faced in Oman with their son who suffers from autism spectrum, inspired them to organise a charity golf event, raising
funds to help increase awareness on autism.
“When we came here, we went to a lot of places to try to get him diagnosed. We didn’t know much about autism and there wasn’t much available. By hosting Golf Fore Autism, we wanted to raise awareness of autism in Oman and try to provide information to other parents, schoolteachers, professionals, caregivers and anyone else who is dealing with children with the autism spectrum,” he said.
The workshops are funded by the proceeds of ‘Golf Fore Autism’ golf event organised at Al Mouj Golf. “Companies paid for bringing in teams to play golf at the event. We also organised fundraising events around the golf day, like charity auctions,” he said.
Johnson said that all proceeds raised at the Golf Fore Autism event went directly to the Omani Association for Early Intervention for Children with Disabilities (AEICD), which facilitates and organises the workshops.
“By utilising the proceeds, we want to put the money back into the community,” he said.
The workshop held on Friday (in English) will include a talk on understanding the phenomenon of autism, as well as advice on what to do if your child has been diagnosed with autism.
Also, a discussion will be held on ‘Applied Behavioural Analysis’, a universally applied training technique to help children with autism spectrum.
On Saturday, a workshop will be held in Arabic.
The workshops will be conducted by the New England Centre for Children and will be held on April 15 from 1 to 6pm and April 16 from 8am to 1pm.
Location is the headquarters of Oman Sail at Al Mouj Marina.
“The response of participants last year was very good. We are hoping for a good turnout this weekend. The workshops are open to everybody,” he said.
If you are interested to attend, send an E-mail to [email protected] or [email protected] by 13 April.
