The first meeting of the Autism Services Advisory Council was held on Wednesday evening in Riyadh under the chairmanship of His Royal Highness Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Farhan Al Saud.

The meeting opened with a speech by the Chairman, followed by an introduction of the goals, objectives and outlines of the Council's workflow to contribute to enhancing the levels of services provided to people with autism spectrum disorder throughout the Kingdom, and then introducing the five main areas of work of the Advisory Council: Sharing best technical practices, building national competencies, unifying efforts to raise community awareness, developing professional rehabilitation programmes and addressing institutional challenges.

The meeting witnessed the attendance of the members of the Board for its first session, namely Princess Samira Al Farhan Al Saud from the Quality of Life Centre in Riyadh, Dr. Saad Al Shahrani from Shamaa Autism, Major General Dr. Ali Al Barrak from the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Autism Programme, Mr. Marei Al Anzi from the Autism Research Centre, Mr. Adel Al Malki from Shamaa Al Amal Company for Special Education and Rehabilitation, Dr. Adel Al Oufi from Tamkeen Association in Madinah. Ms. Abeer Jalidan from the First Autism Centre in Jeddah, Ms. Mashael Al-Dubaie from the Taif Aziz Centre, Ms. Malak Al-Ramadi from the Excellence Centre for Autism in Riyadh, Mr. Khaldoun Al-Mubaid from the Afaq Centre in Khobar, Mr. Sultan Al-Omari from Ajyal Centre in Dhahran, Ms. Rana Taiba from Eva Association, Mr. Hani Al-Suwaig from Sheikh Mohammed Al-Jaber Institute, and Professor Shouq Al-Dosari from Stepping stones.

The meeting continued with a review and discussion of the main recommendations of the International Autism Conference 2023, which included adopting the International Autism Conference as a regular biennial event, encouraging global collaboration in sharing best practices and research, promoting school inclusion, developing professional opportunities, adopting genetic diagnosis, continuing research funding, cross-disciplinary and research collaboration, strengthening financial support, supporting caregivers and talented individuals with autism, and expanding awareness campaigns.

At the end of the meeting, the global trend of changing the symbol of autism awareness was discussed and the visuals of the upcoming meetings were recorded.