DESCRIPTION

Who we are

Mind institute for Special Needs is a state of the art therapy and support center with a range of multi-lingual healthcare and education professionals specializing in supporting children’s learning, development and wellbeing. At Mind Institute, our staff understands the importance of relationship-based interventions. We believe that a successful developmental and educational program cultivates positive relationships and builds trust between students and their teachers and therapists. Individualized learning is an art, and the staff at the Mind Institute are qualified experts that instill confidence in their children. Our nurturing environment, evidence-based therapies, and inter-disciplinary team provides your child with all the support they need to live an enriched life.

Mind Institute is founded on three key beliefs: Compassion, Trust, and Understanding. These beliefs allow your child to achieve a strong sense of self, well-being, and confidence, to move them along the continuum of development so they live healthy and fulfilling lives.

Mind institute Therapists

  Dr. Dalia Mostafa (  Consultant )

• Professor of Phoniatrics at Phoniatric Unit, Otolaryngology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
• Bachelor Degree of Medicine, Master and Medical Doctor Degrees from Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
• A certified member of the American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association
• A member of the Hanen Program

Leah Frisby ( Head of Speech and Language Therapy; Speech and Language Therapist )

• PGDip Speech and Language Therapy, City University London
• BSc Physiology, The University of Southampton

Marukh Rehman ( Speech and Language Therapist )

• B.S. Speech Pathology and Therapy; Manchester Metropolitan University

Charmaine Zubal ( Head of Occupational and Physical Therapy; Occupational Therapist )

• MSc. Occupational Therapy – University of Northampton
• PgDip. Sensory Integration Therapy – University of Ulster
• PgDip. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy – Oxford College

Zeina Chamoun ( Psychomotor Therapist )

• M.A. Psychomotor Therapy; Saint Joseph University
• B.A. Psychomotor Therapy; Saint Joseph University

Marie-Louise Audet ( Head of Child and Adolescent Psychology services; Psychologist )

• PhD Psychotherapeutic and Counselling Psychology; University of Surrey
• BSc Psychology and Counselling; Roehampton Institute, England
• General Nursing Qualification; English National Board, 1990

Fatma Hamadi ( Psychologist )

• M.A, Clinical Psychology, University of Human and Social Sciences of Tunisia
• BSc Psychology, University of Human and Social Sciences of Tunisia

Azza Abdul Rahman ( Head of Intake and EIP Department )

• B.A. Psychology; Ain Shams University Cairo

Hannah Graham ( Special Educator and Speech and Language Therapist )

• M.A Speech and Language Therapy

Noura Issa ( Special Educator ) 

• Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education

Mind institute Services

Children acquire skills, knowledge and understanding at different rates and each child is an individual. Some children may need or benefit from more specialist help to maximize their development and learning potential. If you are concerned about your child’s development across one or more areas, Mind Institute can help.

In order to do this, Mind institute offers a range of therapy services, and our specialist therapy team works together to understand your child and design and deliver a specific package of support tailored to your child’s specific needs to help him/her maximize their potential. This interdisciplinary (different therapy specialisms working together), responsive and child centered approach enables our team to work towards helping your child in the most effective way.

Our therapy services include:

• Psychology
• Occupational Therapy
• Physiotherapy
• Speech and Language Therapy
• Dance and music therapy
• Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) Therapy

Our therapy services can provide:

• Screening
• Assessment
• 1:1 therapy
• Small group therapy
• Social skills programs
• Home based therapy

Services for Schools

Mind Institute recognizes the essential role that schools play in maximizing children’s success both personally and academically. Some children require specialist support in order to maximize their academic and personal success in school. Mind Institute would like to work together with schools and other education providers towards our shared aims of improving outcomes for children and young people.

Our specialist staff at Mind Institute are able to support schools to:
 

• Developing understanding of learning, emotional, communication and physical development needs
• Understand the impact of the school environment on learning and learners
• Develop Strategies to support learning, emotional, communication and physical development needs
• Access specialist resources and specialist staff with experience working within schools
• Improve participation, inclusion and partnership for all pupils in their school and wider life experience
• Measure impact and outcomes – allowing schools to demonstrate effectiveness in meeting the learning, social and personal development needs of ALL children

In the same way that each child should be treated as an individual, Mind Institute believes in offering schools a unique and individualized approach of support which caters to the specific needs of the organization.  

Our schools service begins with an initial consultation. A Mind Institute representative will meet with the relevant school leaders to discuss priorities in terms of specialist provision and the outcomes the school would like to achieve as a result of any input from Mind Institute.

From this information, Mind Institute staff will design a package of support specifically tailored to achieving the agreed outcomes. We believe in working flexibly and creatively in order to provide a comprehensive and integrated service, like no other.

Services for schools include (but are not limited to):
 

• Targeted training for staff
• Evaluation and recommendations for school environments
• Specific advice, recommendations and the provision of resources to support staff to meet the needs of children finding it difficult to cope in the school environment
• School based screening programs to identify children who may need more support
• School based assessment
• School based therapy
• Workshops for parents
• Information and advice sessions for parents, staff and pupils
• Social skills programs

Training and Outreach Service

Mind Institute would like to support our local community of children, parents and professionals as much as possible. Care givers and professionals can become key agents of change and progress during a child’s journey of learning and development.

Through our training and outreach service, our specialist staff support parents, caregivers and other key adults working with children, to develop their knowledge and understanding of developmental challenges, key strategies to support and enhance children’s development and approaches that can enhance children’s engagement and experience of the world around them

Mind Institute can offer training sessions and workshops at our state of the art center in Ain Khaled, or where demand requires it, externally in an appropriate location. We always evaluate the impact of our workshops in order to ensure quality of service and to be responsive to our services users.

Parents and practitioners have been positive about the impact of our workshops. Some of the feedback from our workshops for parents has included:

• “a thought provoking session”
• “the workshop was fun!”
• “all the information given was very interesting. A fruitful session”

Mind Institute staff can also work more informally, through coffee mornings and drop in sessions, to support parents to feel more at ease when discussing any concerns or worries, or simply seeking advice.

Developmental challenges supported at MI

Our therapy teams at Mind Institute are experienced in supporting children with a range of developmental challenges, including (but not limited to) those associated with:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Neurological Disabilities
• Down Syndrome
• ADHD
• Auditory Processing Disorder
• Cerebral Palsy
• Sensory Processing Disorders
• Fine Motor Skills
• Gross Motor Skills
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Separation Anxiety Disorder
• Depression
• Eating Disorder
• Generalized Depression Disorder
• Phobia
• Learning difficulties for all ages
• Global Development Delays
• Language/Speech Delays
• Dsyfluency
• Verbal/oral Dyspraxia
• Selective Mutism
• Hearing Impairment

Early Intervention Program

Mind Institute’s interdisciplinary Early Intervention Program (EIP) provides early identification, evaluation and intervention for children up to the age of 5 years old and is available in English, Arabic and French. Our team includes a Pediatric Speech Therapist, Pediatric Occupational Therapist, Pediatric Psychologist, Behavior Therapist, Play Therapist, Dance Therapist and Early Childhood Education specialists who combine play-based approaches with proven behavioral methods in a mixture of structured and semi-structured activities. Your child will receive a customized, comprehensive and coordinated program, tailored to his/her needs to ensure that their social, communication and language, cognitive, self-help and fine/ gross motor developmental milestones are attained and achieved. Our program includes professionals who oversee your child’s progress, modify the program as necessary and respect the parents’ role.

Daily Special Education Program

Our Special Education Program and related services will be running as morning and afternoon sessions, catering for children of all school ages. The program will be available in English, Arabic and French and will offer children with learning disabilities and other learning challenges a wide range of intensive, individualized interventions designed to remediate learning challenges. The needs of your child are met through a multi-disciplinary team involving special educators, therapists and support staff. In addition to a learning difficulty, the program is also designed for children who may have a physical disability, sensory impairment and autism or language and communication difficulty.

Our team will demystify your child’s learning challenges and will stimulate awareness of your child’s strengths, so he or she can utilize those strengths to their best advantage to overcome or compensate for areas of weakness.

Our therapists will create and implement an individualized treatment plan that will meet the unique needs of your child, which will include a diverse set of services; including speech therapy, occupational therapy, play therapy, dance therapy and psychological counseling if needed.