The international reach of autism showed up in a distant corner of the globe earlier this year, as a small group of educators from Florida Tech traveled to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
South of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula, Dubai has a high population of children with these pervasive developmental delays who receive treatment at home, but only up to school age, according to Florida Tech officials.
What to do afterward "is a big issue," said Mary Beth Kenkel, dean of Florida Tech's college of psychology and liberal arts, and one of four individuals on the recent trip. "They don't have a mandate as we do in the United States that every kid deserves an education."
