Autism mum creates a safe space for neurodivergent kids in the UAE

When Sumayyah Rajah travelled with her autistic children to the UAE from the UK for the first time, she immediately loved that the Dubai International Airport was a silent airport and that the UAE offered multiple priority services for the People of Determination. “The People of Determination is such a great term," she claims, “it shows how the UAE understands autism and inclusivity”.

Sumayyah, a British born expat in the UAE, has two autistic boys who are grown up now, but their family’s autism journey was what inspired Sumayyah to begin a service for families struggling with neurodivergent children. Sumayyah’s family runs domiciliary care and nursing home facilities in the UK but autism is her passion project. “The UAE has always had a draw for me, being Muslim and being an Essex girl,” she says. “I grew up on the beach and when you wear a hijab and see a ladies club here, you feels liberated. My kids are older now and they don’t need me as much any longer, but I’ve lived and breathed autism for the past fifteen years. When you’re going somewhere, you’re wondering about the sights and sounds that might trigger your children. Are there exits close enough? It just consumes you.”

Sumayyah’s service, Home Care Dubai, also offers care and nursing for elderly parents in the UAE. “Another reason why I chose the UAE is that while in the UK, older parents are sent to homes where they are taken care of, it’s not done here,” she explains, “Parents stay at home and we provide a service where they can be taken care of at home.”

So how does her company work and how to they help families who may need extra help with care at home? Whether it’s with neurodivergent children or elderly parents?

“We’ve got six staff as of now and I personally handle autism cases,” Sumayyah explains in detail. “Nursing inquiries are relatively straightforward; you’re relying mostly on medical information provided by doctors and our staff follows it through. In case of Autism, we’ve got an Autism Passport which isn’t necessarily medical information but it helps to understand what your child likes and what he/she doesn’t like. If they’re in pain how they will communicate with us and would they even recognise they’re in pain or do we need to look for it. So that when the mum isn’t there, what can we look for. What we really do is try and understand what the child needs. We create a care plan and it’s tailored to whatever the family want. It may be after school care, or an after-school swimming program that the child needs help with. We’re not teachers but if the child comes home from school with homework, we’ll help with that. If they’ve got PICA, something that my son has had, so I can talk about it at length! We have a fish taco box that had all the different kinds of textures, we would also look at the behaviour intervention put in place by the school, and we will adapt whatever the child needs.”

How is her staff trained and onboarded to work with their service and with families? How do they ensure that the people they take care of are truly taken care of?

“When we take the staff on,” says Rajah, “we do an onboarding program. Our onboarding doesn't just focus on qualifications and procedural knowledge; we need the qualifications that’s a given but we also emphasize on establishing a uniform standard of customer service in care delivery. It's about ensuring that every staff member embodies excellence in both skills and customer service, reflecting our commitment to providing the best in home nursing and care. In a country that offers 5-star levels in everything this is the best place to be if you want your offer top tier levels of care. I teach the staff about autism and the triad of needs, and we look at different profiles because not all autistic children are the same. We do role plays with the staff so that they understand that different children have different needs. It’s not a one box fits all. We talk about behavior reinforcement. If they are preparing food, they must have health and safety certification with us. If they are carrying a child or an adult, they must understand how to move in this situation.”

One element that Summayyah is very passionate about is the companionship program for neurodivergent teenagers. “Instead of a nanny having the kids after school,” she details, “we have a therapist or personnel that will come and play football with the boys, take them on the metro, buy a ticket, teach them life skills, show them how to order something online, cook a dish – whatever the family wants to teach. Or accessing the club or whatever the community has to offer. We really think as children get older and they come out of that heavily parented age, they gain more independence, and they need more activities or learning life skills and how to experience the world around them to the fullest. What happens far too often is that parents are busy, nannies can’t do it and that’s where our service comes in. It’s very important, as a co-founder of this service, to establish a culture of compassionate care. In all areas of service, we want to go above and beyond for our clients. We touch base with them after the first booking to get feedback. This isn’t so we can reprimand staff if they have stepped out of line this is to ensure any care, we provide is person centred and that we can meet the unique needs of each family.”

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