Post by dave74 on Feb 28, 2015 10:55:26 GMT
I want to share my experience:
As explained above my 9 yrs old (Grade 3) son has a very mild condition and is completely fine attending a mainstream school with additional support but unfortunately was not accepted into Aramco schools. Since there are not any schools in the Dammam/Dhahran/Al Khobar area that caters for children with special needs, we knew that our only option was trying to find a school in Bahrain.
After a long hiring process the three of us (wife and son) arrived in Dhahran from Canada on early December 2014. After getting iqamas and multi entry visas we were able to cross the causeway and go to Bahrain on early January 2015. He was assessed in the only 2 mainstream schools that have additional support for children with special needs (Multinational School and Nadeen School); both determined that he was fine attending the schools but unfortunately were currently at full capacity and did not have a place available for him and was put on a waiting list for next September.
Then we went to our last option, The Children's Academy, but were disappointed; this is a very small different kind of school for only special children and in our opinion not the best schooling option for high functioning kids like my son. We thought that our son deserved much more than that.
I also have to mention the logistic of the daily commute to Bahrain. First you need to find a private driver that takes the child through an international bridge every school day and even though children attending school have a special line in the causeway (they don't go through customs like everybody else) the commute is around 2.5 to 3 hours round trip each day. On top of that you have to add to the picture the terrible driving conditions that exists over here. Yes, there are carpooling and also a hired van from DH compound that takes children to Bahrain but that is not quality of life, in my opinion it is not worth it the pain. Yes, there are others that choose to live in Bahrain but then the husband is the one to go through the pain of the daily commute. It is a tough situation anyway you do it. You cannot know the level of demands this will place on you and your family until you start living through it but I can assure it will not be easy.
Finally after taking everything into consideration and exhausting all our options we took the tough decision to send my wife and son back to Canada. He was accepted into his old school immediately. We are now living with the tremendous pain of separation. My only advise to the people considering bringing their special needs children over here is to think twice and to be aware of the many challenges they will face. Many expat families have taken a variety of approaches to address their individual needs, but again it is a tough situation anyway you do it.
As explained above my 9 yrs old (Grade 3) son has a very mild condition and is completely fine attending a mainstream school with additional support but unfortunately was not accepted into Aramco schools. Since there are not any schools in the Dammam/Dhahran/Al Khobar area that caters for children with special needs, we knew that our only option was trying to find a school in Bahrain.
After a long hiring process the three of us (wife and son) arrived in Dhahran from Canada on early December 2014. After getting iqamas and multi entry visas we were able to cross the causeway and go to Bahrain on early January 2015. He was assessed in the only 2 mainstream schools that have additional support for children with special needs (Multinational School and Nadeen School); both determined that he was fine attending the schools but unfortunately were currently at full capacity and did not have a place available for him and was put on a waiting list for next September.
Then we went to our last option, The Children's Academy, but were disappointed; this is a very small different kind of school for only special children and in our opinion not the best schooling option for high functioning kids like my son. We thought that our son deserved much more than that.
I also have to mention the logistic of the daily commute to Bahrain. First you need to find a private driver that takes the child through an international bridge every school day and even though children attending school have a special line in the causeway (they don't go through customs like everybody else) the commute is around 2.5 to 3 hours round trip each day. On top of that you have to add to the picture the terrible driving conditions that exists over here. Yes, there are carpooling and also a hired van from DH compound that takes children to Bahrain but that is not quality of life, in my opinion it is not worth it the pain. Yes, there are others that choose to live in Bahrain but then the husband is the one to go through the pain of the daily commute. It is a tough situation anyway you do it. You cannot know the level of demands this will place on you and your family until you start living through it but I can assure it will not be easy.
Finally after taking everything into consideration and exhausting all our options we took the tough decision to send my wife and son back to Canada. He was accepted into his old school immediately. We are now living with the tremendous pain of separation. My only advise to the people considering bringing their special needs children over here is to think twice and to be aware of the many challenges they will face. Many expat families have taken a variety of approaches to address their individual needs, but again it is a tough situation anyway you do it.
