Damascus, Oct. 1 (SANA) Damascus University’s Faculty of Health Sciences launched weekly psychological and developmental assessments for children Thursday, aiming to identify their needs and guide appropriate interventions, faculty officials said.
The first phase covers children aged one to six and a half and follows six months of training, said Muhannad Sabbah, a developmental psychology specialist supervising the training.
The programme is run in cooperation with the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) and Jordan’s Bana consulting, research and training company, with European Union support.
Postgraduate students in the faculty’s Clinical Psychology Department conduct the sessions every Thursday using approved assessment scales under specialist academic supervision.
Faculty Dean Samer Mohsen told SANA that the sessions form part of the clinical psychology master’s training programme. They help assess the cognitive abilities of children with developmental disorders, identify their needs and plan suitable interventions, he said.
Department head Samar al-Halah said the assessments use the MPR-AV scale to examine cognitive and perceptual development, language, communication, motor skills and adaptive behavior. The LEITER-3-AV scale assesses nonverbal cognitive abilities, reasoning, attention and memory.
Sabbah, from Bana, said trained specialists supervise both the administration of the tests and interpretation of their results.
The launch follows a cooperation agreement signed Wednesday between the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and SAMS covering research, clinical training, joint projects and support for healthcare services, including technical and logistical assistance to teaching hospitals and exchanges of expertise.
R.D/M.F
