Dubai, 4 October 2010: Ishara Consultants, pioneers in organizing spe-cial education conferences in Dubai, will host the 4th GCC Learning Disability Conference and Workshops in cooperation with the UAE Ministry of Education on October 20 and 21 at Renaissance Dubai.

One of the major events on learning difficulty in the region to be addressed by global experts, the conference would focus on the growth of regional so-ciety and educational and so-cial trends that would have a bearing on every aspect of the life of people in the GCC countries.

Maalainaine Salama, Managing Director of Ishara Consultants said the event is expected to trigger a paradigm shift in the perception about the critical so-cial and educational issue of learning disability.

"There will be keynote addresses and presentations by psychologists, educationists and thought leaders, whose initiatives, analyses and assessments of the situation would lead to serious soul-searching on vital so-cial issues," he said.

Among the international speakers who will join the event are: Dr. Gavin Reid, Educational Psychologist and Member, Health Professionals Council, UK, Dr. Gad Elbeheri, Executive Director of the Centre for Child Evaluation & Teaching, Kuwait, Dr. Steve Chinn, UK, Joe McCann, Managing Director, Inclusion Quality Mark Ltd, UK, and Dr. Onita Nakra, Counselor at the American School of Dubai.

The keynote address in the conference will be delivered by Dr. Gad Elbeheri, who will deal with the topic, "Learning Disabilities and Inclusion: The way ahead," followed by Dr. Gavin Reid, who will talk about "Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and Dyspraxia: Strategies for inclusion. Mr. Joe McCann will deliver a presentation on "Inclusion Quality Mark: A Framework for Inclusion." Dr. Steve Chinn will deliver a lecture on "Including students with dyscalculia: Strategies for intervention," while Dr. Gavin Reid will address the gathering on the topic, "Looking at the whole child: Emotional and so-cial inclusion."

There will be six workshops along side the conference and the topics include "Screening and Assessment of Dyslexia, and Dyspraxia," to be conducted by Dr. Gavin Reid, "Motivating Students to learn: Tips for teachers," by Dr. Gad Elbeheri, "Screening and Assessment of Dyscalculia," by Dr. Steve Chinn, "Tips for including parents of individuals with learning disabilities" by Dr. Gavin Reid and "Inclusion Quality Mark: The Evaluation and Assessment Process," by Mr. Joe McCann.

The conference also aims to develop a plan of action to assist educational institutions in the GCC, design curricula to find concrete steps to develop methods of training and creating effective human resources to address the problem of learning difficulties in general, and children in particular, said Salama.

"The conference forms part of a series of successful events organized by Ishara Consultants during the last three years, especially in the field of Spe-cial Education. The constant support of the Ministry of Education has contributed heavily in the success of the past events," he said.

Studies have shown that several thousands of children in the region are suffering from different types of learning difficulties such as dyslexia, and the problem of attention deficit dis-order. According to researches, these types of children who do not achieve good results in their studies get a cha-nce to come out of the disability that they suffer.

A number of techniques, procedures and training programmes designed to meet the learning styles and educational needs of those suffering from learning difficulties are expected to emerge out of the conference as experts in the fields of clinical psychology and neuroscience, government, research, education, companies and parents will discuss and exp-lore ways to address the problems of children who suffered from learning difficulties.

The conference is expected to be attended by around 300 delegates including principals, administrators, counselors, so-cial workers, teachers, parents, researchers, literacy educators, college educators, correctional specialists, curriculum specialists, learning disability specialists, reading specialists, staff developers, speech and language specialists, library and media specialists, technology coordinators, medical and mental health professionals, teachers of spe-cial education and general education, education policy advocates and college student support personnel, adults with learning disabilities and ADHD, and parents of children with learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Registration to participate in the conference is open via the website: www.isharaonline.com/ld

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For further information:
Mr. Sunny
Media Officer,
Ishara Consultants
Tel:+971 4 2955581
Fax:+971 4 2948486
Email: info@isharaonline.com

© Press Release 2010