Dear Parents,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you back to DBS-SEN. I am Mahmoud Alaaeldin, the newly appointed Special Needs Division Principal. Before my recent appointment.

I was the school psychologist at DBS. This gave me the opportunity to be familiar with the nature and needs of our students across the school. I have been working with special needs as a psychologist and psychotherapist for 11 years.

I completed my masters in Neuro-Clinical Psychology and I’m currently working on my PhD.

Being a psychologist has opened avenues to apply different scientific ways to differentiate between students and their capacities so we can provide our students with the cognitive, behavioral & academic support they require.  

Our vision centers around “Never leave anyone behind.”  We believe that our students have unique skills which we need to further develop and provide opportunities for them to be productive citizens.

The SEN team aims to create a safe, conducive environment for students to apply their skills and express themselves logically.

Our division comprises of the Special Needs, Autism & Vocational Units. We offer a wide range of therapeutic support services, namely, speech therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy for the holistic development of our student.

We are a homeroom teacher-based classes with help of a specialized assistant who can communicate in both English and Arabic for individual support.

This year, we hired a behavior therapist to address behavioral barriers to lay the foundation for all of the success elements to ensure that our students showcase their talents.

We are in the process of establishing a sensory room for the benefit of our Autistic students.  

This room will provide our students with a real rich sensory experience to allow them to overcome any behavioral challenges related to these sensory features.

The Special Needs Division follows a modified curriculum for Language Arts and Math using the essential elements of Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

The curriculum is comprised of standards and list of progressive skills based on an American model.

Following the same model, Life Skills has been integrated throughout the curriculum and incorporates personal hygiene, healthy habits, social/emotional development and skills for daily living.  

 

The Vocational Unit follows the ASDAN Curriculum and the BTEC Qualification Curriculum.

We are in the process of sending some of our ASDAN students to continue in college after completing the pre-requisite hours in ASDAN program. 

Parent training will be conducted to keep you updated on new approaches to empower you to assist your children and strengthen the home-school partnership.

Our long-term plan is to be the first research-based practice school in the region which will serve our students to develop themselves through science and science only.

We believe that we can compete with international schools around the world with science and your support as parents.

I hope you enjoy being part of the DBS family and do not forget that we are here to support you and our students.

Regards,

Mahmoud Alaaeldin

SEN Principal  

 

Special Needs Education