Pre-Conference Workshop Write Up

Ziauddin University organized the annual international rehabilitation conference. The conference was followed by preworkshops and the plenary sessions.

Ziauddin College of hearing sciences invited two national and one international speaker for the preworkshops that held in the College of speech language and hearing sciences on 22nd Feb 2018.The facilitators who presented in the preworkshop sessions for CSLHS are Dr.Farooq Rathore on “Research made simple for Speech & Language Therapist”, Dr. Farah Asim on “Affective disorders in children with Autism and ADHD” and Mr. Braxton Dean Baker on “Introduction into Functional Communication Training (FCT) and Verbal Behavior”

Pre-conference workshops at the College of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences (CSLHS) kicked off on Thursday, 22 February 2018. The first workshop was titled ‘Research made simple for Speech & Language Therapist’ and was conducted by Dr. Farooq Rathore, Head of Department at the Rehabilitation Medicine department at PNS Shifa hospital.
In a technologically interactive session featuring online polls and slide sharing, Dr. Rathore encouraged students and faculty to indulge in and explore the realm of research. Highlighting the personal and social benefits of conducting research for rehabilitation professionals, stressed upon starting with small steps in the beginning.
Acknowledging the dearth of formal training in the field of research at the undergraduate level, Dr. Rathore introduced participants to the major concepts in research and equipped them with a comprehensive variety of online resources for providing assistance in a range of areas; choosing a research topic to a research mentor, and improving one’s written language skills to advice on the research journal one should opt for.
Adopting a lighthearted approach for addressing the serious ethical concerns regarding authorship and plagiarism, Dr. Rathore instantly connected with the students and their ground level concerns. Through his professionally and socio-culturally relevant examples, he managed to widen the knowledge base of the audience and reshape their attitudes and perspectives regarding research, within the 90-minute session.

A workshop conducted by Dr.Farah Asim was held on 22nd February 2018, at the College of Speech Language and Hearing Sciences. Dr.Farah is a child psychiatrist from New Jersey who has specialized in ADHS, ASD and other behavioral difficulties. She presented on DSM-5, where she mainly focused on the revised diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder and ADHD. DSM is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and is the diagnostic bible for mental health professionals. DSM-5 is the newest version that was released in 2013.
The use and importance of stimulants, anti-psychotics and anti-depressants in the treatment of these behavioral disorders was stated, with both the pros and cons of administrating medication being discussed.
It was an interactive session with the key discussions being about the contrasting differences speech therapists find in the welfare and diagnostic processes in places like Pakistan, as compared to North America. A number of valid points about the importance of social services and public health services were bought up, societal issues and how to resolve them were also targeted.

A Pre-conference workshop was conducted on Friday, the 23rd of February 2018 at Ziauddin University titled “An Introduction into Functional Communication Training (FCT) and Verbal Behavior”. This workshop was arranged by the faculty of the College of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Ziauddin University for its students. The facilitator for this workshop was Mr. Braxton Dean Baker, a Speech and Language Pathologist from Kansas, Missouri. The moderator for this workshop was Ms. Asiya Sachwani, a faculty member at the College of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. The duration of the session was 3 hours. It commenced at 2:00 p.m, and ended at 5:00 p.m with a 15 minute tea break in between. The workshop encompassed the strategies used for facilitation of speech and language for children and adults with socially maladaptive behaviors. Towards the end of the Workshop, Mr. Baker was presented with a shield for his contribution and participation. The students enthusiastically took part in various discussions throughout the length of the session and were able to gain much valued knowledge with the intent of applying it to their profession.