We have some amazing updates to share this month, with events happening in Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine. Read on to find out more about the exciting work that has been taking place...

Lebanon

Our research assistants in Lebanon, Ms. Rana Bassaj and Mrs. Nada Haddad, in collaboration with Taawon Association and Speech and Language Therapists, delivered workshops for parents in the Palestinian camps from March 2023 till May 2023.

These two-day workshops covered various topics, including the importance of language in early childhood, ways parents can support their child’s oral language development from birth to five years old, and the importance of discussing emotions during the early years. 

The workshops were held in several camps across Lebanon, including Saida Camp Miye et Miye, Burj Camp Beirut, Saida Ain El Helwe, Camp Chatila Beirut, Al Beddaoui, Ain El Helwe. 

 ‌

Our Bulbul Event in Jordan-Amman for policy makers and stakeholders.

Our Bulbul Event in Jordan-Amman for policy makers and stakeholders.

Bulbul Jordan’s team, consisting of Dr. Khaled Al-Shdeifat and research assistants Nour Al-Aryan and Alaa Al-Ibini, organized a workshop Introducing the CDI tool for measuring the development of communication in children in Arabic Language, Arabic CDI” and presented a workshop on Public health, on the 24th of May,2023 in Amman.

The workshop included various activities, the first of which was the welcoming and introduction between the invitees. This was followed by a presentation and workshop entitled “The Arabic CDI tool”. Followed by a presentation and workshop entitled "Public health". Where data was collected from the attendees regarding their own reflections on how, who and where we can use the CDI tool in Jordan, and what can possibly be the benefits and risks of using this tool in different settings. Data was also gathered regarding the practice of Public health in Jordan. 

The invitees who participated in the workshop were a group of governmental and non-governmental organizations that work in the sectors of health and education in Jordan, it included:-

1) Curriculum department, ministry of education.

2) Education Administration Department, ministry of education.

3) Directorate of Family and Childhood, Ministry of Social Development.

4) Queen Rania's Foundation (3 Attendees).

5) Higher council for the rights of persons with disabilities.

6) Head of Child Health Department, Ministry of Health

7) Director of Childhood, National Council for Family Affairs

8) National Center for Human Rights

9) Family Care Institute, King Hussein Foundation (2 attendees)

10) Develop your awareness, NGO (2 attendees).

11) Director of the Office of the Health Institutions Accreditation Council

12) Family Protection Department, Ministry of Interior

The West Bank: Supporting Language Development in the Early Childhood in Palestine

The Palestinian Bulbul team; a group of researchers along with the help of volunteering students, held an event in Birzeit University about “Supporting Language Development in the Early Childhood in Palestine”. We invited a group of stakeholders, representatives from NGOs that specialize in early childhood programs, representatives from the Ministries of Education, Social Affairs, and Health, the head of the Syndicate of workers in nurseries, Universities’ Academics and other organizations that spread across the West Bank and conduct various programs in the field of early childhood development. The aim of the project was to shed a light on language development focusing on the Bulbul project and the CDI  and to learn more about the prevention techniques in different levels that are used in the West Bank regarding language development. 

At first, Mr. Thair Odeh, the co-investigator in Birzeit University-Palestine, introduced the team and presented our project and work to the audience. Then two representatives from the Ministry of Education gave speeches that shed the light on the efforts that are put by the ministry workers to make the kindergarden stage obligatory and to raise the awareness of the population on the importance of language development at this stage. They shed the light on the idea that enrolling in kindergardens is beneficial not only on the language level but also on the motor, social-emotional and the later academic skills of the child. Their work is really appreciated and this has been really helpful in sending the message directly to parents. They also mentioned that only 1 out of 3 children are enrolled in kindergardens and/or exposed to any ECD programs. Also, most of the preschools are private. Therefore, appreciated efforts have been put by the governmental associations in collaboration with the NGOs and community organizations to help build public preschools, developing checklists and manuals for workers, raise the awareness of parents on the importance of ECD programs, and educate workers on topics related to ECD to make preschools accessible for all especially those in marginalized areas. 

Then Professor Caroline Floccia, our co-investigator in Plymouth University in the UK, made a presentation about the CDI use in detail. She explainedthe purpose and procedure of the provision of the CDI to parents, caregivers and other specialists in the field of early childhood. 

Professor Christina Mckean, our co-investigator from Newcastle university, gave a presentation on the importance of early prevention on the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Afterwards, our team of research assistants from Birzeit University-Palestine; Juliete Handila, Karmel Allan and Razan Abu Awwad, conducted a workshop in which we had the audience divided in groups and they were asked four questions on the practices in Palestine regarding the different levels of prevention. We came up with interesting findings of private and NGO organizations that work with early childhood development. However, there’s no national strategy for working on detecting early language delays and disorders of for detecting delays in the global child development or preventing those. Therefore, there is a need for planning and implementing systematic prevention procedures on global ECD focusing on language development in the early childhood stage. This is due to the lack of the provision of such practices in this field. Also, there is a need to raise the awareness in Palestine regarding the latter for both caregivers in kindergardens and nurseries and also parents. 

We then discussed their thoughts on the CDI and the possibility and ways of spreading it in the West Bank. They were all very impressed by our work and very pleasure to see such efforts in this field. They encouraged the use of CDI by parents, professionals in healthcare centers, workers in preschools and kindergardens. It can be also used as a screening tool for SLTs after proper training. They also encouraged collaboration with the ministries, NGOs and syndicates for collaboration.

 ‌