Hi there, I'm a mom with 2 sons in the ASD spectrum, Aspergers and Autism. We moved here 10 months ago. Before we came here we heard abt shafallah and The Learning Centre and was happy to know that Doha has such facilities. We uprooted (we were in Australia b4 this) and moved to Doha. We did contact the schools and they said OK to apply. But when we came here,they told us Shafallah and the Learning centre both had 2 year waiting list!
Our eldest , 15 yrs old,with Aspergers is like yr son, he has attended mainstream but with support in all his classes. But over here you cannot find such things. Most of the mainstream schools we have approached (that is all the international schools) said they are not open to having an assistant sit in class with the child...in short, mainstream schools with the kind of support your son needs is not available here in Doha. International schools here do not have a special needs unit.
For our other son who has severe autism,12 yrs old, he attends is Sunbeam Centre for Special Needs, Doha. they have speech therapist, Occupational Therapist and Psych. He seems happy there. We have seen improvements with him.
I find here in Doha, there is only a budding awareness and they keep talking abt Shafallah Centre which is good, high tec and modern but sadly with 2 years waiting list and priority to locals. Other than that its quite a nothing in terms of support and resources here.
I am sorry to be so negative but I am here in Doha and I have gone through what your are most concerned about. But at least you still have that choice before moving.
I'd say find out more. If you want to try to get a place for schools, make sure you GET the place first before moving here.
Hi there, I'm a mom with 2 sons in the ASD spectrum, Aspergers and Autism. We moved here 10 months ago. Before we came here we heard abt shafallah and The Learning Centre and was happy to know that Doha has such facilities. We uprooted (we were in Australia b4 this) and moved to Doha. We did contact the schools and they said OK to apply. But when we came here,they told us Shafallah and the Learning centre both had 2 year waiting list!
Our eldest , 15 yrs old,with Aspergers is like yr son, he has attended mainstream but with support in all his classes. But over here you cannot find such things. Most of the mainstream schools we have approached (that is all the international schools) said they are not open to having an assistant sit in class with the child...in short, mainstream schools with the kind of support your son needs is not available here in Doha. International schools here do not have a special needs unit.
For our other son who has severe autism,12 yrs old, he attends is Sunbeam Centre for Special Needs, Doha. they have speech therapist, Occupational Therapist and Psych. He seems happy there. We have seen improvements with him.
I find here in Doha, there is only a budding awareness and they keep talking abt Shafallah Centre which is good, high tec and modern but sadly with 2 years waiting list and priority to locals. Other than that its quite a nothing in terms of support and resources here.
I am sorry to be so negative but I am here in Doha and I have gone through what your are most concerned about. But at least you still have that choice before moving.
I'd say find out more. If you want to try to get a place for schools, make sure you GET the place first before moving here.
Hope this helps.
Best Regards.
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