Michael F. Shaughnessy Senior Columnist EdNews.org
Eastern New Mexico University

Eddie M. Denning, Ed.D. is Managing Director of the Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs  located inDoha, Qatar. His mailing address is P.O. Box 4251,Doha, Qatar.

1) First of all, what exactly is it that you do at the Shafallah Center ?

I moved to Doha in 2001 to direct the Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs (www.shafallah.org.qa) and to open a new program for children and adolescents with autism.I oversee 4 school programs and a vocational unit for children and adolescents with Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy with concomitant cognitive impairment, and other developmental disabilities.I also oversee related services which include:child and adolescent psychiatry, pediatric rehab services, psychological services, behavior analysis, plus speech and language, physical, occupational, and music therapies.

Our school programs and related services are similar to a model I developed and implemented in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University.

Perhaps my most important function is to recruit qualified professionals from the Middle East, Northern Africa, the United States, and other locations who can engage in best practices of their chosen specialties.Because of our location, the vast majority of our staff must be native Arabic speakers.

2) How many students do you serve?

We currently serve 200 students and expect to grow to 600 students in the next few years, as we have just moved into a purpose-built campus with state-of-the-art facilities.

3) What is the largest number of exceptionalities?

Our most common learning challenge is Down Syndrome (and other forms of mild and moderate cognitive delay) for which we operate our largest school and vocational education programs.We have smaller school programs for children with moderate to severe learning challenges and a specialty program in autism spectrum disorders.Many of our students are multiply disabled, with physical challenges prominent, including cerebral palsy.

We have just recently implemented programs for children and adolescents who endure major life changes as a result of traumatic brain injury.

4) What is your most pressing problem?

Definitely, my largest problem has been in attracting professionals who are up-to-date in the most recent advances and in research-driven strategies associated with their fields of specialty.I have been lucky to find good supervisors from major institutions of higher learning like the University of London, University of Kansas, Johns Hopkins University, and others.Shafallah also maintains a very strong training department.We, through our supervisors, provide much of the training which would normally have been done at university level.

A personal problem is that I do not speak Arabic.Most of my directives are funneled through supervisors, who are bilingual.

As a related note, by far the most qualified people I find tend to follow similar life patterns; they are born and raised in the Arabian Gulf, Middle East, or Northern Africa, travel to England or the United States to earn masters degrees and doctorates, and then wish to return to this part of the world to pursue their careers.These same individuals hopefully will be able to influence instruction at Arabic Universities.

5) In Qatar, what is the position of the government about children with mental retardation, autism, and children who are either deaf or blind ?

Qatar mandates "Education for All" and, in particular , is a major partner of UNESCO.In this part of the world, the United Nations is the driving force behind education reform.The Shafallah Center will accept all children referred to us with documented developmental disabilities.In another facility, Al Noor Institute, all children with visual impairments qualify for acceptance.Qatar is just in the beginning stages of serving students with disabilities in the public and private schools.They are meeting with some success in learning disabilities, sensory, and physical challenges in the education of students with normal cognition.

6) Are there transition programs to prepare students for the world of work?

The Shafallah Center will be the driving force in transition from school to work.Our oldest students are 16-years old at the moment, and we are gearing up our vocational programming.We already offer in-house education and maintain numerous workshops (pottery, weaving, computer skills, hotel skills, assembly line work etc.).We will offer a full range of training, including internships in the community which will lead to full-time employment for our graduates.We are working with American institutions for staff training, with modifications to account for the cultural and religious traditions here.

7) In that part of the world, are children with special needs put in special schools, or institutions? What is the prevailing philosophy?

First, I must say that Qatar is way ahead of the other Gulf and Middle Eastern countries in terms of modernity in the field of education, special or otherwise.The royal family truly must be given all the credit here, as it is their initiatives which foster quick change.

We are pretty much at the same point the United States was in 1975 when their "Education for the Handicapped" law was passed. But we are moving far faster than the United States did because the royal family demands and funds high quality programming.At the moment, we are intensely proud of our special centers, like Shafallah.Our education for these students is truly IEP-based and child-centered.We are also patient as we encourage community awareness and look to forge partnerships with the public and private schools.We already do community workshops, parent, and teacher training.And we take our students all over the country and, because of our participation in Special Olympics, all over the world.

8) Could you tell us a bit about your background?

I earned my masters (as a Reading Specialist) in 1976 and my doctorate (in Human Communication and its Disorders) in 1990, both from the Johns Hopkins University.I was an associate faculty member at Hopkins and an adjunct professor at Towson University for 10 years.I taught a variety of courses in their special education departments.

I began my career in 1974 as a teacher in the Baltimore City Public Schools, moved 10 years later to the Kennedy Krieger School, served as principal of their Middle School between 1991-2001, and opened a program for autism spectrum disorders there.I was recruited to move to Qatar in 2001 to replicate the model I learned and developed in Baltimore.I have served as the Managing Director here for the past 5 years.

9) I understand that there was a major conference recently in Qatar. Were you involved? Could you tell us a bit about what transpired at the conference and the influence of the conference in that region of the world?

Our First International Conference (see website for more details) was planned to celebrate the Grand Opening of our new campus this past May.This grand opening was the culmination of 7 years planning and hard work on the part of a prominent Qatari businessman, inspired by Her Highness Sheikah Moza bint Nasser al Misnad, the consort of the Emir.Our new Center is truly the largest and best equipped special education facility I have ever experienced.I served as a host and the conference itself was planned and implemented by a firm in New York City to truly include the top experts.Newsweek also partnered with us and gave us excellent publicity.

As a result of this first conference, our faculty is now enjoying the connections we made with institutions on several continents and we will be the driving force of the second conference.I see our staff more actively involved in the planning and, more importantly, in the presentations of future conferences.

10) Do you have a web site where people can get more information?

http://www.shafallah.org.qa(This is currently in the process of reconstruction and updating, so it will not be " on-line" for about 2 weeks)

11) What question have I neglected to ask?

I will just add a personal note.Because of my 5 years' association with Shafallah, the Doha community, and talented individuals from surrounding countries, I have learned that special children present the same characteristics regardless of nationality and that professionals and families share the same dreams about appropriate education goals.It is my hope that more and more Arab professionals develop their craft here and give back what they learned when studying abroad.