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Does the Bahrain Institutes (BISE) provide its services for all children with special needs?
BISE is specialized in providing services for the following categories:
Children who suffer from "Special Reading Difficulty" (Dyslexia).
Children who suffer from "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Children who have "Speech and language Disorders".
Children who are in need of "Occupational Therapy".
Which age groups are dealt with at the BISE?
BISE deals with children who are between 3 and 15 years old.
Will a child be enrolled, immediately, in a remedial program as soon as he arrives at the Institute?
No, he won't. He is, rather, referred to the specialized unit at the institute for assessment, after collecting a psycho-educational assessment report is written, and a relevant, individualized educational program is prepared for him.
Is there a unified type of assessment that is administered to all cases referred to BISE?
No, there are different types of assessments applied in accordance with a child's problem, and these types, are as follows:
o Comprehensive Academic Assessment: this type is administered to children who have difficulty reading, writing or comprehension. It lasts approximately three to four hours.
o Psychological / Behavioral Assessment: This type is run for diagnosing children who have ADHD or other behavioral disorders.
o Speech & Language Assessment: This type is applied to children who have speech and language problems, such as stuttering or speech aphasia, it lasts for one to two hours approximately.
o Assessment of Mal-adaptive Behavior: This type of assessment is applied to children who suffer from slow learning, or whom their parents suspect of having mental delay, it lasts for, about, two to three hours.
o Predictive Screening Assessment: This type of assessment is run for pre-schoolers who suffer from their inability to acquire the basic skills in the kindergarten stage.
Are there fees for services provided by BISE?
Yes, fees are paid for all the services provided by BISE. Although BISE is not a non-profit organization, it is not a charity one. These fees are paid for improving the quality of services provided through its specialists in domains.
How many remedial sessions does a child needs?
There is no fixed number of sessions for all cases, it depends on the following:
o A child's problem in terms of its type, nature, and degree.
o A child's range of responsiveness to the remedial program prepared for him.
o Parents' range of seriousness in following-up and implementing their child's remedial program.
Is there a probability that parents mistakenly classify their child as having Learning Difficulties, while he is, in fact, lazy, careless, or not motivated to study?
Yes, depending on guessing or common sense, without resorting to early identification may cause a great deal of harm to a child, and may cost him the loss of his educational and vocational future. Thus a child's problem should be diagnosed thoroughly, and in light of such a diagnosis a special care should be provided.
What is the necessity of knowing about Learning Difficulties?
Some people try to ignore or reject the existence of Learning Difficulties in their child, and depend on the myth that such a problem can be solved automatically over time which will cause an extra suffering for both parents and the child because any delay will affect his educational, vocational, social, and familial future, despite the fact that a solution for all learning difficulty problems is available due to the scientific progress in this domain.
Does parents' participation in the application of the prepared remedial program to their child contribute to the decreasing of the session number that their child needs to attend at BISE?
Of course, the bigger the cooperation between parents and specialists, the quicker and the better the results, because number of sessions a child spends at BISE can’t be compared with the huge amount of time he spends in learning either with his parents or in school.
Are parents allowed to view methods of teaching and teaching strategies implied during the teaching session?
Sure, they are, we at BISE encourage parents' participation, attendance to the remedial sessions, and watching the implemented methods and strategies from an observation room prepared especially for this purpose.
Can parents get a copy of an assessment report that diagnoses their child's case at the end of the assessment process?
Definitely, as a printed copy of the psycho-educational assessment report can be handed to parents to be presented to school or other specialized or concerned authorities.
Are teachers of children at BISE regular teachers?
No, all teaching staff (cdre) at the institute are professional in the field of special education such as LDs specialists, Speech & Language Pathologist, Psychologists, and Behavior therapist.
Is BISE simply a psychological clinic for children?
No, it is an establishment for assessment and diagnosis of children whom their parents notice that they have academic under-achievements, hyperactivity, non concentration and inattention speech and language delay, or any other symptoms that impede their learning and do not learn as their peers, though they have average or above average IQs, there senses are intact, and excels in other domains. The more delay in referring their child to a specialist for having assessment and remediation, the more the gap between a child's IQ level and not his academic achievement widened, and vice versa. What a great number of children with LDs have excelled in their study and continued in their university study as a result of early diagnosis.
What is the optimal age of referring a child to LD specialist?
The sooner, the better. The earlier parents refer their child to a specialist, the more time they saved, and consequently helped their child overcome his learning difficulties by receiving relevant care on time. Thus, they contribute in alleviating all the suffering they, their child and their teachers encounter.
Do the specialists at the BISE work in isolation of a child's teachers and supervisors in schools?
No, but, on the contrary, there is a communication and follow-up with a child's teachers run by the specialist. A specialist must follow-up his academic progress as soon as he starts his remedial program at BISE through a continuous communication with a child's school staff. Such a two-way communication is very productive because it provides all parties with a positive feedback. Many children who suffered from under-achievement with a gap of three academic years between "what is" and "what should be", could catch up their peers and bridged such a discrepancy within one year, and then they continued their education normally.
If a child suffers only from an academic under-achievement, it will be sufficient to be taken by his parents to a private tutor without resorting to an institute for special education, what do you think of this?
A child with LDs doesn't benefit from a private tutor. Rather, his problem will be more aggravated and become worse over time, even if his parents hired a teacher for all main or sub-subject matters, because such children are in need of specialists in Learning Difficulties, not for a private tutor.
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