Thousands of autistic children in Bahrain are set to benefit from a first-of-a-kind manual about different human behavioural therapies.

The Complete Guide to Teaching Children with Behavioural and Communication Difficulties could also be included in the national curriculum, if officials get their way.

It is the first such book in Arabic and was launched during a ceremony yesterday at the Education Ministry, Isa Town. The event was hosted by Bahrain Society for Children with Behavioural and Communication Difficulties, and students at Alia Centre for Early Intervention and attended by minister Dr Majid Al Nuaimi, officials and children with special needs.

It featured poems read by six students from the centre, who revealed plans to create a yearbook for the centre by applying their talent in organisation, photography, arts, interviews and writing.

"Our main motto is that everyone has the right to education, including children with special needs," said Dr Al Nuaimi. "The ministry has always believed that involving these children in society will have a positive effect and change people's perspective towards them."

The book was compiled by society board head Shaikha Rania bint Ali Al Khalifa. It offers a structural theory on human behaviour and is a teaching guide to parents and therapists, said centre board member and Bahrain University professor Dr Sawsan Karimi.

"At the centre, we are proudly part of the on-going process of dealing with autism, to try to find new ways of therapies. It is essential to launch this book, which is based on a scientific approach called Applied Behaviour Analysis and Verbal Behaviour Analysis.

"This offers a structural theory to understand human behaviours and founds a basis for learning new behaviours of autistic children. The main essence of a child improving their verbal behaviour lies in the belief that they can improve if they receive a proper direction," said Dr Karimi.

"This book comes to cover a comprehensive part of the process which starts with beginners and ends with experts. It is also good for parents because it teaches them how to understand different attitudes of the child and the proper ways of dealing with them."

"There are many manuals in English about behavioural communication, therapies, analysis and treatments, but we don't have any in Arabic, which is a huge problem for families and therapists," said Dr Karimi.

The guidebook is on sale at the centre in Sitra and costs BD15 ($39.78). – TradeArabia News Service