By Heather Long Vandevoorde, Ph.D.
The third of December is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, according to the United Nations. In honour of that, I’d like to tell you about a special friend and amazingly dedicated mother: Reem Al Shami. Reem is the mother of five wonderful children. Four go quite happily about their days; learning, socializing and playing sports. But one, Noor, faces challenges with all of those activities. Every day is a new challenge for Noor, especially as she has never uttered even one word.
“I have travelled the world seeking diagnosis and treatment for Noor,” says Reem. “For thirteen years I refused to accept that this was a permanent challenge for her and for us. I lived in denial.” Reem did what we would all do, ask “why me?” But one day it dawned on her that she knew the answer to that question. “God gave me Noor so I could help other children with similar issues.”
After turning the world upside down looking for answers, she decided it was time she made her own answers. That is when she and her husband, Matar Al Blooshi, started the Stars for Special Abilities center for mild-to-moderate learning disabilities. “We started in 2007 with a speech therapist, an occupational therapist and a special education person, all in English,” says Reem. She was still taking Noor to Egypt and the USA in search of a diagnosis, so her sister, Elham, helped her run the centre at first. Now, seven years later, the centre has 24 clinical staff, and is one of the largest multi-disciplinary centers in the UAE. It is all privately funded by Reem and Matar. “Keeping it privately funded allows us to decide which specialists to bring in to help our patients. That is very important to us.”
“Multi-disciplinary is an excellent term to describe Stars,” says Deputy Director Sandy Abu Samha. “We service the needs of children with speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, psychology, psychomotor therapy, special education, applied behavior analysis, early intervention, as well as neurodevelopmental optometry. Our staff comes from all over the world and speaks English, Arabic, French, Tagalog, several Indian languages as well as Pakistani. We offer group and individual therapy as well as visiting schools to help kids where they need it most socially and academically: in the classroom.”
They are having success at every turn. Teresa, mother of five year old Theo, came to Stars three years ago. “We didn’t think anything was wrong, per se,” Teresa recalls. “But at the age of two he still was not talking and others recommended we get him tested before applying to schools. I am so thankful that we did because early intervention has been very beneficial. Over the past three years we have worked in partnership with the educational psychologists and therapists from Stars and the teachers at Theo’s school, Repton School, Abu Dhabi. Repton has been especially accommodating and helpful through this process. Theo is high-aptitude academically, but needs help socially. Stars is helping integrate him successfully with the other children.”
“We are using simple techniques to save futures, and that’s what I’m most proud of,” said Reem. Instead of curling up in a ball and feeling sorry for herself and Noor, Reem is taking action daily. In so doing, she has helped not only herself and Noor (who spends her after-school time at Stars) but other families as well. She takes the definition of parent and stretches it wide enough for many more.
