The new center located in Mather Street is a subsidiary of the Saudi Charitable Society for Autism.
Prince Turki bin Nasser, chairman of the society, thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for his approval to name the center after his father.
The prince said the center is well-equipped in accordance with international standards. “It will be a state-of-the art model center to serve boys and girls who are affected with this syndrome,” he said.
Adviser to the Saudi Charitable Society for Autism Zaid bin Abdullah Al-Mashari said the center covers more than 500 cases of autism in the Kingdom through its network of branches in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.
The society's services include separate units for boys and girls, vocational training, rehabilitation programs and diagnostic centers for autism. Children from two years of age are accepted for admission to the center.
During the last five years, the society has been organizing awareness programs in five major cities and suburbs. The project was approved by the late Crown Prince Sultan.
“The PNAAC, which works on a two-shift basis, has highly qualified instructors and experts in the field of autism,” Al-Mashari said.
He said the Saudi Charitable Society for Autism has been attracting world experts annually to give lectures and organize workshops to raise the skill levels of educators of autism and update people on the latest advances in the field.
“Autism is a health issue that does not know any geographical and political boundaries nor differentiates between the rich and the poor,” he said.
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old.
Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize; how this occurs is not well understood. It is one of three recognized disorders in the autism spectrum (ASDs), the other two being Asperger syndrome, which lacks delays in cognitive development and language, and pervasive developmental disorder — not otherwise specified (commonly abbreviated as PDD-NOS), which is diagnosed when the full set of criteria for autism or Asperger syndrome are not met.
“Such a disorder needs international cooperation to face the challenges in the field of autism,” Al-Mashari said.
He also said the organization has embarked on several awareness programs in public malls and hypermarkets to advise people on how they should deal with children suffering from autism.
He pointed out that if autism is cured at an early stage among children, they could lead normal lives later. "The problem of abnormality sets in when such children are neglected at the early stages of the condition."
