Under the auspices of Professor El-Menshawy, President of Assiut University, the Vice Deanship of the Faculty of Education for Early Childhood for Community Service and Environmental Development organized the "Discover Your Child... Speech and Speech Disorders" at the College of Education Nursery for Early Childhood, as part of the university's keenness to support children's health and enhance efforts to detect speech and communication problems. The initiative came under the supervision of Dr. Mohamed Adawi, Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development, Dr. Reham Rifaat Al-Meligy, Dean of the Faculty, and Ms. Marwa Ahmed Jaafar, Director of the Nursery.
Professor Ahmed El-Menshawy stressed that the university is keen to support children's health and develop their abilities since the early years, based on its belief that the early detection of any disorders that affect speech or communication represents an essential step towards providing appropriate care and improving the quality of life of children. He explained that the university is keen to employ its academic expertise and scientific capabilities in implementing community initiatives that contribute to raising health awareness among families, supporting children and enabling them to grow and learn in a healthy environment, reflecting the societal role of the
university. Assiut, and its mission to serve the community and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr. Mohamed Adawi stressed that the initiative comes within the plan of the Community Service and Environmental Development Sector at Assiut University to spread health awareness and promote prevention and early detection programs, pointing out that speech and speech disorders are among the problems that require early intervention to achieve the best therapeutic and rehabilitation results. He added that the university is keen to educate parents about the early indicators of these disorders, which contributes to the speed of diagnosis, improves the chances of children's integration into the educational and community environment, and helps them develop communication skills, in a way that supports their academic success and social, and embodies the university's mission in serving the community and achieving the goals of sustainable development.
For her part, Dr. Reham Rifaat Al-Meligi explained that the College of Early Childhood Education pays great attention to the child's health and integrated development, and is keen to implement community initiatives that combine academic role and community service. She added that the initiative included providing free sessions for children by speech specialists, with the aim of early detection of signs of speech difficulties and speech defects, in addition to educating parents on ways to properly deal with these cases, and the importance of resorting to specialists when noticing any language delay or disorders In speech, which contributes to supporting children's linguistic and cognitive development, and improving their level of academic achievement.
The event was attended by Dr. Manal Anwar Sayed, Vice Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, Dr. Wafa Maher Attia, Vice Dean for Community Service and Environmental Development, Dr. Najwan Abbas Hammam, Head of the Department of Psychological Sciences at the College, Mr. Abdel Rahim Fouad, Speech Specialist and Founder of the Abdel Rahim Fouad Foundation for Training and Skills Development in Assiut, and Ms. Nourihan Assem, Speech Therapist and Founder of IQ Center for speech, skills development, and psychological and behavioral rehabilitation in Assiut, with the participation of a group of faculty members and their assistants, nursery teachers, parents, and children.