Saima Hussain Ijaz

I have worked as a non ABA Behaviour Consultant in British Columbia, since 2003 and make Skill Based Individualized Program Plans for children and youth with autism of varying severity. I have been associated with MCFD, (Ministry of Child and Family Development) as QSP (Quality Service Provider) and RASP (Registered Autism Service Provider) in the past. My primary focus has been to enhance the child’s visual and auditory attention and processing skills for developing functional communication, play, literacy and social skills. I have helped parents build home teams with hands on implementation training, program maintenance and later skill transfer to a local school setup of choice.
I came to Canada as an international medical graduate in the early 90’s with training in Pediatrics. My younger son received his diagnosis of Autism and over the next 1.5 year he didn’t make any measurable gains under the advised therapies. He became increasingly aloof and began to show self injurious tendencies, so I left my residency to learn specifically about Severe Autism along with the available and the researched teaching methodologies for kids with autism and developmental delays available in all corners of Canada and States to set up his home program.
Over the years I shifted my primary focus to the kids at the severe end of the autism spectrum who, like my own son had not benefit from the available therapies in BC Canada. I also broadened my work horizons, by taking clients from Ontario, States and UK while volunteering my time for autism awareness in Pakistan. Based on the data of 15 years of work, I developed AAPT, Autism Assessment and Programming Tools, which is a stepwise guided curriculum across 26 Developmental Domains.
I have been Involved with the Parent Support Groups, in BC Canada from the early 2000’s. I have worked for Family Support Institute and continue to volunteer as a Resource Parent.
At Pakistan, I set up online teaching groups and websites about autism awareness and the key steps of setting home/center based Early Intervention Programs in early 2000. I have conducted workshops and seminars for professionals, para-professionals and parents at Medical Colleges and Universities in various major cities of Pakistan over the years and helped establish an Autism Resource Centre in Karachi, Pakistan in 2010.