Our Mission

CLES provides free individualized assistance to children facing Specific Learning Difficulties 

CLES (Lebanese Center for Special Education) is a Lebanese non-profit, non-governmental, non-sectarian organization established in 1999 with a mission to provide free individualized assistance to children with Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD). CLES mission focuses on launching and implementing diverse projects that provide all children with equal opportunities and promote inclusion among them, regardless of their differences and learning capacities.

As part of its mission, CLES also:

  • Hosts regular campaigns to raise awareness amongst Lebanese and Arab communities about these specific learning difficulties.
  • Provides regular training sessions to allow teachers and professionals to respond and deal with the needs of children with specific learning difficulties.
  • Organizes learning support classes across public schools dedicated to children at risk of developing SLD.
  • Implements ‘Care by CLES’ initiative, with a mission to help Lebanese families in need during the current economic crisis.
  • Implements ‘Art by CLES’ initiative, to facilitate, support, and promote the talents of young Lebanese.

Some of CLES activities are carried out in collaboration with the Lebanese Ministry of Education. Since 2005, in the spirit of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, UNICEF and CLES collaborate to ensure that every child has access to quality education, equal rights, and protection.

Diagnosis

To make sure that the child’s learning difficulties are not due to other conditions, such as:

  • Below average intelligence level.
  • Acute behavioral issues and personality disorders.
  • Neurological problems.
  • Visual and auditory processing disorders.

 

And that the child suffers from:

  • A specific learning disability such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysorthographia, dysphasia, etc.
  • Other related learning difficulties such as speech disorders, visual perception, auditory perception, kinesthetic learning, psychomotor efficiency, and/or emotional ill-adaptation.

Treatment

All CLES centers are staffed with a team of experienced psychologists, speech and psychomotor therapists who work individually with each child to ensure their integration into normal education settings.

The CLES team provides diagnosis and treatment for each individual child and coordinates through weekly meetings to discuss and plan the appropriate course of action based on each case.