Online videos help parents of children with learning difficulties in Lebanon

A series of videos to help parents and caregivers of children with learning difficulties in Lebanon has been a huge success.

The 20 short daily episodes – made with the support of Theirworld – have been watched more than three million times on TV channels, websites, YouTube and social media.

Families have praised the Inclusive Episodes films, made by SKILD (the Center for Special Kids with Individual Learning Differences). They offer facts and guidance on the educational, motor, speech and psychological development of children and tips on common challenges, especially in the early years. 

Watch our film about the project

“They are full of very useful info in a very short time,” said Pascale Haddad, mother of children aged four and six. “Maybe if you do this thing, if you watch this small series, it will give you a good insight. They will make the parenting journey easier for you.” 

The SKILD Center, based in Mount Lebanon, provides individualised support such as therapy and learning support. It also works with low-income schools, offering resources and training for teacher working with children with special needs. 

In 2020, the combined impact of the pandemic lockdown and the Lebanese economic crisis meant many of those children experienced a lack of learning and therapy sessions.  

Support from Theirworld ensured SKILD could make educational films to provide families and teachers with creative ways to help children who were at home, separated from their teachers and therapists. That project exceeded all expectations and the films were viewed more than 400,000 times. 

The new series of 20 videos builds on that success. Hosted by Elsa Zgheib, a well-known Lebanese actor, they started being shown last month on the MTV Lebanon network and other platforms. 

Rashelle Allam, a psychologist at SKILD, said: “The purpose of these videos is to raise awareness about the special needs community, because awareness is where everything starts. The second purpose was to help parents with the day-to-day challenges with their children. these videos, as moral support for the parents.  

“The feedback so far has been positive. The most frequent comment is that it’s easy, simple and you don’t have to be a professional to understand the terms.” 

Paula-Louise Eze-John, Theirworld’s Senior Project Manager, said: “All the content is available online. But, excitingly, it’s also been broadcast on TV. So it means that we can reach a much wider audience nationally. We’re very excited about the impact of this project.” 

You can watch the 20 episodes here.