To provide professionals and researchers with Arabic resources that can assist them in delivering effective services for clients with communication disorders.
To advance the research knowledge-base on typical and disordered communication in Arabic speakers through local and international collaboration.
To establish a network for collaboration among researchers, specialists, practitioners and students in the field of Arabic communication disorders and literacy.
To serve as a platform for raising public awareness about Arabic speech, language and literacy issues.
As speech-language pathologists and researchers working in the Arab region, we have experienced first-hand the challenges of trying to serve clients when there are very few available culturally and linguistically-sensitive clinical tools.
Necessity has often compelled clinicians to improvise informal Arabic speech and language instruments. Many more have developed Arabic assessment tools as part of their research projects or theses. Unfortunately, these efforts are dispersed and the average practitioner does not have easy access to these innovations.
To address this pressing need, we decided to launch the ASLL network with the aim of promoting applied research collaboration and dissemination in the field of speech, language and literacy to better serve individuals in the Arab World and beyond.
ASLL was born with the belief that “Gaining knowledge is the first step to wisdom, Sharing it, is the first step to humanity.” Author of Quote is Unknown. The founders of ASLL are five professionals with expertise in Speech, Language and Literacy research. Here’s a biosketch of each founder
Fauzia Abdalla is a multilingual Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) who received her Masters and Doctoral degrees in Communication Disorders from McGill University, Montreal, Canada. She is a certified member of the Speech-Language and Audiology Canada (SAC) and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
Know MoreSaleh Shaalan is the director of Allied Health Services at the Mohammad Bin Rashid Center for Special Education-Operated by the New England Center for Children (MRC-NECC). Saleh has a PhD from University College London (UCL), UK in child language disorders. He completed his M.Sc. degree and clinical training in speech-language pathology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, (2000).
Know MoreNailah Al-Sulaihim is an Assistant Professor of Speech-Language Pathology in the Department of Communication Disorders Sciences at Kuwait University. Nailah obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Reading (UK) in Language Acquisition. She completed her M.S. degree and clinical training in Speech-Language Pathology at Arizona State University (USA). She is a certified Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) with a (Certificate of Clinical Competence-CCC) from the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA), and her present research interests include language acquisition, language and literacy, language disorders, and bilingualism. She is currently working on projects related to literacy environments including a study of shared book reading, emergent literacy, phonological awareness, and home literacy environments in Arab households.
Know MoreAbdessatar Mahfoudhi is an Associate Professor of English and Head of Department at the Australian College of Kuwait and an educational consultant and Head of the Research and Test Development Unit at the Center for Child Evaluation and Teaching in Kuwait. His research interests are in language, literacy, and language-based disabilities, with a focus on Arabic as a first language and English as an additional language.
Know MoreMariam Khater works as a communication needs consultant at the Mohammad Bin Rashid Center for Special Education-Operated by the New England Center for Children (MRC-NECC). Mariam earned her doctorate in Human Communication Disorders from City, University of London. She completed her M.A in speech pathology from University of Jordan and her B.Sc in speech pathology and B.Sc in Audiology from Applied Science University, Jordan.
Know MoreASLL Columns is delighted to bring you voices from the professional field. The content in ASLL Columns addresses a wide variety of topics. Through these various lenses, authors hope to directly connect with you. There is something for everyone -from personal stories by families and students, clinical viewpoints by practitioners to more thought-provoking reads on research. Interactions through the comments section will help to further the connection between you and the authors.
Have you heard of the Russian Babushka dolls which come in a variety of sizes and nest inside one another? Well, the story of ASLL reminds me of these nested dolls.
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بوصفي أخصائية نطق و لغة تعمل مع أهالي أطفال ذوي إضطراب طيف التوحد أتفهم حذر الأهالي الشديد في تعريض أطفالهم لأكثر من لغة و اهتمامهم وتركيزهم على لغة واحدة بنيّة التمكين وحد المشتتات المحيطة بعملية تعلم اللغة، لكن هل يؤثر فعلاً تعريض الطفل لأكثر من لغة على تطور لغته؟ و ما علي فعله بوصفي مربي أو أخصائي مع طفل من ذوي اضطراب طيف التوحد في موضوع ثنائية اللغة ؟
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Have you even been scolded about not doing a good job, even though you worked so hard on it? Well, that’s how I usually feel. I never liked talking about having a disability since others look down on me. It took me 25 years to finally gain the confidence to speak about it. I am proud that I, Sarah Al-Abbar, an individual with Dyslexia, graduated from Kuwait University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Disorders.
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في عام 2003 كان يُطلق على كلية العلوم الحياتية مسمى كلية البنات الجامعية حين استقبلت أولى دفعاتها وكنت من ضمن هذه الدفعة التي قبلت بتخصص اضطرابات التواصل واللغة. أنا ادعى فاطمة سامي الذكرالله، الملقبة بناشرة العلم حالياً، كنت في هذه المرحله كثيره التساؤل :
لماذا لا أستمتع بالدراسة ؟!!
لماذا أهتم بدرجة معدلي الدراسي لا بكيفية الحصول عليها بشغف ؟
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