School in Qatar with mild special needs support (mainstream)
Hello,
We are living in Switzerland now and have an opportunity to move to Qatar for a better job.
We are interested to know whether anyone here know schools in Qatar (kindergarten level) which has some support for special needs student. My son (5yo) might be in mild level of ASD spectrum (according to diagnosis from hospital here).
Could you help us and share your experience?
Thank you.
@Dracu:
Nice to hear you had no waiting list and the situation is improving now. He was born in 2011 so i think it should be perfect. Thanks for sharing!
@witz
There was no waiting list in my case. Actually, my daughter had to chose between 2 schools.
It might be just my impression, but I think the situation of the school places has improved very much, and there is a small start of a competition between schools in attracting kids. The ones my daughter chose not to go to were quite dissapointed. This is probably to a lot of lay offs in the last 2 years in the country, plus opening of many new schools.
If your son is born in 2011, he will go in Grade 0. If he is born in 2012, you have to look for another school. QFI doesn't have kindergarten yet.
Thank you Dracu and britexpat for your info. To Dracu, did you have a waiting list when you applied there for your daughter?
Actually Qatar Finland is number one on our list for my son`s future school. We contacted the principal Mr Juha Repo a few months back and in general I had a very good impression of their welcoming and philosophy on special needs student (some schools didn`t event respond). However I heard it is very tough to get a space for school in Qatar especially kindergarten level. So we are also considering other alternative schools. I do hope they still have some space when my future`s job become certain.
Ofcourse another plus side is that Finland has one of the best education systems in the world
well, my daughter just started at qatar finland school and she is very happy.
If you want a school system much friendlier with the kids, with less homeworks than "normal" and dedicated teachers for kids that need support, I don't think you can't find a better place in Qatar.
If you are looking for immediate high school performance, like international competitions on Mathematics and stuff like that, you may want to try another school.
Thank you for all the input. We are considering them. Please do share your experience
You may try qatar finland school. I think they are some of the few accepting children with special needs.
http://qatarfinlandschool.com/
http://www.qatarliving.com/forum/family-life-qatar/posts/special-needs-schools-therapy
Hope this helps ... Good luck
http://www.lifeinqatar.com/Pages/en/listing-category/education/special-needs-education.html