Founded by Dr. Donia Fahim, a speech language pathologist, behaviour therapist and former Professor of Special Education; E&TS, Ltd., is honoured to support families and professionals from around the world in providing the best services for children with language, communication and special educational needs.
Dr. Donia’s global mission has been to improve the quality of lives of young children with additional needs, particularly those children on the Autism spectrum (AS) or those who have complex needs. She continues to provide therapy and consultative services to children and their families around the world.
Dr. Donia’s training, which is somewhat unique in speech and language pathology, applied behavioral analysis, special education, mindfulness, sensory integration, and cognitive behavioral therapy, collectively guides her therapeutic conceptual framework. Her personal interests include studying herbal plant medicine, music, and art. Integrating developmental and behavioral approaches with her interests informs her intervention planning, working with families, and collaboration with other professionals. More specifically, she offers the following services:
Dr. Fahim conducts diagnostic assessments with Dr. Marianna Muriun for possible Autism Spectrum Conditions using the diagnostic tools ADI-R and ADOS-2 (both considered to be the golden standard of diagnostic tools for ASC), combined with independent information from the child’s or young person’s educational setting and/or therapists. This service includes:
An in depth parent/carer interview
Information from educational setting
In person assessment
A parent/carer meeting to review the results.
A full written report will be provided summarizing the assessment process, diagnostic tools, conclusions and recommendations
Provision of special educational and speech-language assessments. Dr. Donia specializes in conducting assessments for children in English and Arabic. This service includes:
Assessment using formal assessment protocols (TILLS, CELF5, PLS).
Full written report summarizing the assessment process, diagnostic tools used, conclusions, and recommendations.
Assessment of the learning environment at home and / or educational setting.
Implementing evidence-based care for your child’s communication, language, feeding, and learning needs. The goal is to give your child the support, knowledge, and skills required to help them achieve their full potential in communicating effectively, learning, and supporting appropriate feeding development. Areas covered include:
Verbal behavior, speech, language, literacy, numeracy, social communication, sensory processing, AAC (augmentative and alternative communication), and adaptive skills, including feeding, toilet training, bathing, and sleeping.
These coaching sessions allow you to learn the best ways to support your child in developing their communication, language, and play skills.
Studies have shown that when parents change their patterns of verbal and non-verbal behavior, make environmental changes, and provide scaffolded support this can help in improving their child’s communicative competence, language, and overall compliance with everyday routines.
Therapy sessions are conducted online. The therapy takes place over 10 to 12 weeks. There are six sessions in total, and each session is for 60 minutes. The family is provided with written notes summarizing what was discussed during the session, a copy of the recording, and visual supports to be used at home or in the community.
The first session begins by watching the video of the child and one of his/her parents playing together. Using a rating scale, Dr. Donia and the parent go through a checklist to rate different interaction skills and strategies. Together they identify a skill to practice and the parent is asked to practice the skill until the next session. In addition, other concerns are discussed such as toileting, sleep, feeding or behaviour and during the subsequent sessions these too are discussed and recommendations are offered.
Each week a video is shared to observe the parent using the interaction skills and observing the positive effect this has on their child. A new skill to work on is identified each week and any other parent coaching needs are addressed as well as identified during the assessment session.
This session is conducted jointly with Professor Elbert Blakely, to discuss any concerns that you may have regarding your child’s behaviour, and to develop a Behaviour Support Plan in order to address these concerns.
This session takes place 3-4 weeks after completing the fourth session. The video from the assessment session is watched again and compared with the review video. The rating scale is completed a second time to identify progress in the child and the parent.
One-hour online or face-to-face consultation and therapy in the clinic, online, and in the community. Therapy incorporates counseling techniques, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and executive functioning training.
Online clinic conducted jointly with Dr Elbert Blakely, to address specific behavioural concerns in the home and community.
Provision: 60-90 minute online consultation to discuss your concerns; development and provision of a Positive Behaviour Support Plan and recommendations; consultation recording, written notes and recommendations; support materials and resources.
Provision: Half-a-day or one-day consultations to support inclusion practices, differentiation of instruction, and the use of positive behavioral supports in the classroom.
Implementing special educational & speech-language assessments: Dr Fahim specializes in the assessments of children from 0-7 years in English and Arabic.
This service includes an in-depth assessment of the your child’s needs, their learning space as well as comprehensive recommendations for adjustments that can help your child to thrive.
She will review previous assessment reports and guide you with the appropriate intervention that is most suitable for your child.
Using curriculum-based assessments, Dr. Fahim will work with you and your child’s team to develop Individual Family Services Plans (for children 0-3 IFSPs) or Individual Education Plans (for children 3-7 IEP). These programs are for a 6 months to a year and will guide educators and clinicians on the specific objectives and areas your child most needs to help with.
We can also help make sure that everyone is on the same page and frequently review progress and update the objectives.
Dr. Fahim and her team can help with recruitment (writing the job advert, interviewing, and writing the contract) as well as providing ongoing supervision of clinical teams through tele-therapy as well as in person visits.
Dr. Fahim provides parent coaching, as well as support to siblings and extended family members. She specializes in guiding families on creating a conducive learning environment at home, and effectively implementing visual schedules and supports. With her assistance, you and your child can get the most out of everyday early childhood activities such as feeding, dressing, bath time, and meal times. Depending on your needs, Dr. Fahim can spend anywhere from a single day to up to two weeks with you.
