In early December, The New England Center for Children’s (NECC) Clinic in Dubai celebrated five years of providing session-based applied behavior analysis (ABA), speech and language therapy (SLT), and occupational therapy (OT) services to individuals of determination.
“The NECC Clinic in Dubai was established to help meet the high demand for effective autism services in the area,” shared Kristin Buchanan, MSEd, BCBA, executive director of NECC’s Gulf Consulting. “Over the last five years, we’ve helped hundreds of individuals of determination in the Gulf region through our clinics in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, consulting services, as well as through our community programming and trainings.”
Starting with just one staff member, the Clinic has grown to a team of nearly 30 full-time staff members and currently serves 68 individuals.
In addition to providing services to individuals of determination in the area, the NECC Clinic-Dubai has also sought to invest its resources and expertise in the community. After opening, the NECC Clinic-Dubai capitalized on the use of social media and other digital tools to do just that, providing quick tips for parents and educators as well as disseminating information on community events for individuals of determination along with student successes and staff achievements. The NECC Clinic-Dubai continues to offer free outreach workshops to the public on topics such as supporting child development and applying principles of behavior analysis in the general education classroom. This past December, the team even extended its regularly scheduled services by providing a complimentary therapy-based social skills winter camp for its consulting clients and their siblings. The Clinic’s collaboration with community partners and active participation in key events like the AccessAbilities Expo and the Unity Run underscores NECC’s commitment to supporting Dubai’s vision of becoming the most accessible city in the world.
In April 2023, NECC opened a second clinic in Dubai in response to increasing needs across the community for more specific services, such as OT and SLT. The Allied Health Clinic began as a pediatric specialty clinic that provided one-on-one or group services across a variety of diagnoses and severity levels. It has since merged with the NECC Clinic-Dubai.
NECC has been working with children with autism in Abu Dhabi for more than 25 years, beginning with private consulting in 1997. After a decade, NECC opened a day school, NECC-Abu Dhabi, that was later renamed the Mohammed bin Rashid Center for Special Education operated by NECC (MRC-NECC). While MRC serves Emirati children of determination, NECC’s Gulf Consulting has served more than 300 students from all backgrounds in the GCC through its consultative services and clinics.