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Special Minds

Resources

Guides for the hard conversations

Practical reading for the first call, the school meeting and the insurance form.

Parent guides

Start here.

How to talk to your child's school about an SEN diagnosis

A practical guide to raising a new SEN diagnosis with your child's school and getting a constructive response.

Insurance and special needs therapy in the UAE: what to ask your provider

The specific questions to ask your UAE health insurer before starting therapy for your child.

Choosing between home, school and centre-based therapy

How to decide which setting works best for your child's therapy — home, school, or a dedicated centre.

What clinical supervision actually means (and why it matters)

A clear explanation of what clinical supervision looks like in practice, and why it's the core trust promise behind our placements.

A parent's guide to the first consultation call

What to expect from an initial consultation call, and how to prepare so it's genuinely useful.

Does Daman, Nextcare or Neuron cover ABA and speech therapy in the UAE?

A plain-English guide to how UAE health insurers and claims administrators like Daman, Nextcare and Neuron actually decide what's covered for autism and other therapies — and what to check before you book.

What an IEP actually is — and how it works in a KHDA-regulated Dubai school

A plain-English guide to Individual Education Plans and how they function in practice in KHDA-regulated Dubai schools.

Selective mutism in young children — and why it isn't shyness

What selective mutism actually is, how it differs from ordinary shyness, and practical ways to help at home and with school.

Moving from nursery to KG with additional needs — a transition checklist

A practical checklist for moving a child with additional needs from nursery to KG as smoothly as possible.

Supporting siblings when one child has additional needs

Why siblings' experience matters when one child in the family has additional needs, and practical ways to support everyone.

How to prepare for your child's IEP meeting: a practical checklist

What to bring, what to ask, and how to make sure your child's IEP goals are specific enough to actually track.

KHDA's shadow teacher policy: what Dubai parents need to know

What KHDA actually requires of Dubai private schools before they ask a family to fund a shadow teacher, and the questions worth asking.

Class teacher vs shadow teacher: who does what in an inclusive classroom?

A practical breakdown of who plans, who adapts, and who communicates with parents when a child has one-to-one classroom support.

When should a child see a developmental paediatrician? A parent's guide

What a developmental paediatrician actually does, when a referral makes sense, and why you don't need to wait for the appointment to start support.

What is a SEN governess, and does your child need one?

The role behind the job title — what a SEN governess does, how it differs from childcare, and the children it actually suits.

SEN governess, nanny, shadow teacher or tutor: which one do you actually need?

Four roles families are routinely told are the same thing, what each is trained to do, and how to tell which your child needs.

What does a SEN governess cost in Dubai?

What drives the price of one-to-one home support in the UAE, the two ways families arrange it, and what each one actually buys.

How to hire a SEN governess in the UAE: the checklist

References, trials, contracts and the questions that separate a good placement from an expensive one — the process we would use ourselves.

A day in the life of a SEN governess

An hour-by-hour picture of what one-to-one home support actually looks like, and what should be written down by the end of it.

SEN governess: agency or private hire?

What an agency should actually do for its fee, what you take on by hiring privately, and how to tell a real agency from a finder's fee.

What qualifications should a SEN governess have?

The training, credentials and experience that matter for one-to-one home support — and the ones that look good on a CV and tell you little.

15 questions to ask a SEN governess at interview

Questions that reveal method and judgement rather than warmth, with what a good answer sounds like.

Finding a SEN governess in Abu Dhabi

How one-to-one home support works for families in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, and what is different from Dubai.

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