Rashid Paediatric Therapy Centre

The Rashid Paediatric Therapy Centre is a humanitarian organization, which provides quality education and therapy services to children with Special Needs. Inaugurated in 1994, the Centre aims to ensure that international standards of excellence in education and therapy are maintained at every level. The Centre is unique in the Emirates for providing a holistic multi disciplinary approach to special education.Each child receives a programme specially designed to meet his or her individual needs. Parents are encouraged to participate in all aspects of the Centre's functioning and to be actively involved in their child's learning.

The Rashid Centre aims to provide high quality, integrated education services and therapies for children with special needs. The center's purpose is to develop children's abilities to function and learn within their environments, that is, home, school, and community, and to develop maximum independence and participation in these environments.

Our aim is to deliver services that set high standards and expectations for children with special needs residing in the UAE, and to develop awareness and an understanding of disability issues in the Gulf Community.

Rashid Center for the Disabled is characterized by the multiplicity of its activities throughout the year ranging from visits and receptions, organizing forums and workshops, to participating in events and activities related to the disabled, and charitable and humanitarian work in general. The center receives an enthusiastic reception and praise by the organizers. The media in its various sections are usually invited to cover these events, or at least promote it in the media via press releases issued by the center. Those events are often publicized by a privileged media coverage and are a place of praise by the community, which contributes to the deployment of community awareness of the centre’s message, its activities and events that make the center an all year round buzzing beehive.

The Centre has 20 classes in the Learning Difficulties section, with children ranging from infants to 18 years. The classes are divided according to language of instruction, with half the classes being taught in Arabic and the other half in English. The Centre offers programs for children who have moderate - severe learning difficulties. This can also include children who also have physical disabilities, although in general they need to have some form of independent mobility, with a walking aid of some kind. Children join classes according to their age and the type of program they require.

The Centre offers holistic programs, working on all areas of the child's development. This includes cognitive development, language and communication, self-care skills, socialisation and play, and gross and fine motor skills. Class sizes are small to allow for intensive, focuses teaching. The therapists work with individual children and groups, as well as working co-operatively with the teachers, to ensure the children are given every opportunity to develop skills in all areas. Preference is given to practical, experiential learning, to ensure tasks are meaningful and motivating to children. All classes are able to make use of the facilities in the Centre, such as the soft playroom, the sports hall and swimming pool, the library, the kitchen, and the music and art rooms. The outside area is landscaped, with play equipment and sitting areas.

Classes have between 6 and 10 students, with a teacher and a classroom assistant. All the teachers at the Centre hold a recognised qualification in Special Education. All classes have access to specialist Music Therapy and Art.

The loss of any part of the body does not constitute the end of life, it is the beginning of the insistence, communication and altruism. The loss of any sense of the senses of the body does not constitute the end of the road, but it is the beginning of creativity and inspiration, and so are our children with disabilities in "Rashid Center for the Disabled", who managed to gain the trust, compassion ,respect, and appreciation of everyone, not only through their disability but through determination and defiance of their disabilities, which enabled them to reach places no one would imagine they can get to, thanks to their will, and they are now stars in a variety of areas in life, most notably the arts.

The state has persevered since its inception to work to serve the people of this segment in all therapeutic, educational, rehabilitative fields, and it tried as much as possible to provide them with treatment centers that can contribute to the rehabilitation, and it is working as well to integrate them into the community, giving them all the rights they deserve similar to their fully fitted counterparts. The UAE is a pioneer in this regard, where the state signed all international conventions and treaties that guarantee to people with special needs of their rights, safeguard human dignity, and it worked as well on the adoption of a wide range of laws, decisions and initiatives that ensure them a decent life and real integration in the community, in addition to the right to work and earn a living, without waiting for a help.

This category was, and still is, of interest and patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, " May God protect him", and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, "May God bless him”, and their Highnesses the Supreme Council Members and rulers of the Emirates. The needs of this category were taken into account in the infrastructure of major projects, as well as streets, bridges, tunnels, subway, shopping malls and other in high efficiency and a deep study of the different requirements and needs was conducted.