On the occasion of World Autism Awareness Day, which marks April 2nd, Dr. Sadriya Al-Kohji, Assistant Medical Director for Children and Adolescent Services at PHCC and National Lead for Healthy Children and Adolescents Strategies, spoke about PHCC’s services provided for children diagnosed with ASD in the community, stating that PHCC offers EarlyBird program in Qatar for parents of children diagnosed with ASD who are at preschool age.

EarlyBird supports parents in understanding their child Autism, and help parents facilitate their child social communication and behavior in their natural environment. So far, 354 parents are trained on EarlyBird in Qatar.

Dr. Al-Kohji added that screening for ASD is offered as part of the Well-baby service package in PHCC. ASD screening is done at 18 months and 30 months of the child’s well-baby clinics visits. In 2021, a total of 23,521 screening tests were done for ASD.

Sensory friendly rooms are now available at some PHCC health centers. Sensory friendly rooms are offered for children with disabilities with primary focus on ASD. The aim of sensory friendly rooms is to improve the health center visit experience and help children feel calm and engage in an environment that is tailored to their sensory input.

Dr. Al-Kohji expressed her gratitude for the latest achievements involving members of ASD. PHCC has also launched the Fast-Track service in all of its health centers. Fast-Track is a service designed to facilitate and accelerate the process of receiving care at PHCC health centers.

Dr. Al-Kohji noted that PHCC celebrates the World Autism Awareness Day by organizing a variety of activities and events, one of which is an awareness lecture on ASD at PHCC staff clinic. PHCC health centers also celebrate this occasion, where sensory play activities are given as part of these events. Various messages about ASD services available at PHCC and ASD awareness messages were also posted on PHCC’s social media platforms.

Social media cards about ASD services available as part of the Well-baby services were also posted under the theme ‘Together, to Empower ASD Individuals and Their Families in The Community’. Some health centers participated in the World Autism Awareness Day to raise awareness among their patients, such as Rawdat Al Khail health center.