RIYADH — The Autism Center of Excellence (ACE) has launched its Social Media Accounts and several virtual awareness and training programs to make aware of the dire global situation due to the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The launch of these activities comes as part of the 13th annual World Autism Awareness Day, an important date to be remembered for those impacted by the disorder. The ACE was established as a result of the joint social corporate responsibility initiative between the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority with generous support from Saudi banks. One of the activities involved providing 21 virtual webinars by leading experts in Saudi Arabia to raise awareness about autism spectrum disorder to practitioners, families and interested members of the general community. In addition, the ACE team held several special webinars aimed at families share their experience with their loved ones with autism. These special webinars aim to get the families voice heard and also to lessen the impact of stigma associated with having a child with autism. In addition, the ACE launched the first Arabic podcast for autism "Dardashat Tawahoud" with autism to reach Arabic-speaking community across the MENA region. With respect to the rehabilitation services, the ACE has launched the "I Can Train My Child" initiative, a 1-hour virtual parent training program over a 12-week period. The ACE has gained through these activities many positive feedbacks from the attendees and beneficiaries. The ACE's team is certain that the virtual kickoff of these activities did not affect their outcomes, rather reach further to families across Saudi Arabia. The ACE seeks to become a leading independent legal entity in the field at the regional level through its services, by applying the planned goals such as providing and modeling rehabilitation services, and contributing to conducting research studies in the field of autism spectrum disorder, training professionals, in addition to supporting families by raising community awareness about autism spectrum disorder, as well as vocational rehabilitation and provide a model for housing solutions for them. To achieve these goals by serving people on the spectrum and enabling them to integrate into society, the ACE works to attract qualified experts and specialists in the field according to the highest international standards and experiences.
