Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — Autism centers are recruiting secondary school graduates and some specialized expatriates despite the availability of a large number of specialists who are not employed due to their high wage demands, said an expert in the field. Special education professor at King Abdulaziz University, Leena Seddeeq, told Al-Hayat daily that there are no basic standards established by the Ministry of Social Affairs, prompting many new autism centers to employ secondary school graduates to avoid hiring specialists. She said there is no shortage of specialists but the problem lies in their high wage demands. Autism centers employ secondary school graduates and provide them with the necessary training. “If the Ministry of Social Affairs establishes basic standards for employees, these centers will be forced to hire specialists and those who carry licenses to practice their specialty,” she said. She explained that the lack of specialists in autism centers in the Kingdom has prompted some families to send their children to specialized centers in Jordan. Establishing a national autism center is a step that will come too late, while all services provided for special education in the country are behind European countries and some Arab countries, she claimed. “A national autism center should have been established in 2007 when the International Conference for Autism was held, especially since the majority of autistic children are now in their 20s,” she said. She described the evaluation of special needs children as “weak” because of the lack of a strong set of standards tailored to the Saudi environment. Currently, sets of standards from other countries are translated and used, she claimed. She pointed out that there is at least a 1 percent margin of error in diagnosing children with special needs, but there are no specialized centers to refer them to eliminate the possibility of wrong diagnoses. While the Jeddah Center for Autism and Prince Faisal Center in Riyadh are considered the best in the country, they are not diagnostic bodies, she said. Most autistic centers do not have all approved diagnostic tools, especially as some simply observe children without conducting any tests and vice versa. She stressed the need for adhering to strict standards when establishing autism centers as well as ensuring certain staff carry licenses to practice. The Jeddah Autism Society and Al-Faisaliah Center for Autism organize training courses for newly established centers to raise the standards of their services to a certain level so they are effectively helping autistic children.
