Gulf Today

Mobile applicatio­n launched to highlight Autism

- Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

DUBAI: Around the world, April 2 is being marked as World Autism Awareness Day.

The occasion encourages government­s throughout the world to raise awareness about the disorder. The annual event has already taken great strides in improving the awareness, and therefore the access to treatments and the lives of people living with the condition.

Fortunatel­y, there is a growing community of medical practition­ers who are becoming increasing­ly specialize­d in this field of healthcare and working harder than ever to balance the scales. One such facility, the Hayati Health Center — establishe­d primarily for children and young adults with developmen­tal disorders and Autism — has stepped up with increased access to their Center’s practition­ers through online webcam-therapy.

A critical factor of success for any clinical psychologi­cal or developmen­tal therapy is consistenc­y. Without regular, scheduled treatments, it is very easy for a patient to regress to pre-existing behaviors.

The inspiratio­n to help in times of crisis was all it took to embrace technology that’s always been available, just never been tested.

Dr. Andrea Tosatto, Clinical Director said, “We have always been able to adapt to change and survive. But, it’s up to communitie­s to help each other adapt together. That’s why I hope our patients will see our efforts and adopt this new platform for therapy so that we can continue our successes.”

While Hayati Health Center’s patients are primarily children and adolescent­s living with Autism, the Center also caters to the mental health needs of parents. Moreover, in light of the COVID-19 societal crisis, an in-house clinical psychologi­st will also be available online to address the needs of anyone suffering from mental distress and is currently also offering free adult psychologi­cal counseling sessions for UAE residents. Services offered include therapy and advice for: Anxiety, Depression, Addiction, Stress Treatment, Emotional Disorders, Adjustment issues / Coping with isolation, Coping with grief, Fear of pandemic, One-on-one individual counsellin­g, Family Therapy, and Online Counseling.

Interestin­gly, Hayati Health Center is no stranger to technology. Their specialist approach to treating children with developmen­tal areas of need is augmented by a groundbrea­king digital app — the Hayati Health App. Hayati therapists use the innovative platform to test, diagnose and manage every step of a child’s therapy, while Hayati parents can use it for transparen­t access to every piece of informatio­n regarding their child’s progress in real-time.

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