Home / Moving to Dubai
Relocating to the UAEMoving to Dubai with a neurodivergent child
Choosing a school here is the single decision that will shape your child's next few years, and it is usually made quickly, from another country, on very little real information. I have spent twenty years inside this system. Let me help you choose well.
School, or something other than school
Most families arrive assuming the first. Some work out, sooner or later, that the second suits their child better. I can help with either, and I will tell you honestly which one I think you are looking at.
Choosing a school
A shortlist matched to how your child learns rather than to reputation, the seven things you need to establish about any school, and support agreed in writing before you sign anything.
See how that worksLearning at home
If school is not the right answer for now, the structure that makes home learning work: routines, timetables, curriculum, resources, and a workspace that suits your child.
See how that worksThe loudest reputation is not the best fit
Dubai has a large and varied international school sector, and the schools that market themselves hardest are not always the ones that will hold your child well. What matters is not the league position. It is whether the inclusion department is staffed, whether the classroom teacher will actually act on a report, and whether anyone will notice on the day your child stops coping.
Those things are difficult to see from a website or a tour, and almost impossible to see from another country. They are visible to someone who has worked in this system for two decades.
- A shortlist matched to how your child learns
- What each school's inclusion provision genuinely amounts to
- Where reputation and reality diverge
- Support agreed in writing before you enrol
- A named person at the school who owns it
- I can join the visits and the calls with you
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Seven things you need to establish
A school tour tells you about the swimming pool. None of the things below appear in a prospectus, and every one of them will matter more to your child than the facilities.
Capacity, not job titles
Inclusion is only as real as the staffing behind it. There is a specific number that tells you what provision here actually amounts to, and no prospectus prints it.
Routine, or exception
Schools that arrange exam access regularly have systems for it. Schools that arrange it rarely will be learning the process on your child, in the term it matters.
Practice, not policy
Every school has an inclusion policy. Far fewer can describe what support looks like in an ordinary lesson on an ordinary Tuesday. The distance between those two answers is the measurement that counts.
Acceptance is not action
Almost every school will accept an external assessment report. Rather fewer will do anything with one. Those are two separate things to establish, and they need asking separately.
The bad day
Every neurodivergent child has them. What matters is whether the school can name a person and a place, or can only offer good intentions.
When the plan stops working
Support agreed in September and never revisited is not support. Find out whether provision gets reviewed, on what trigger, and by whom.
What goes in writing, and when
Anything agreed verbally before you enrol has a way of evaporating afterwards. There is a right moment to ask for it in writing, and it is earlier than most families realise.
The wording is the difficult part
Knowing what to establish is half of it. The other half is phrasing each one so that you get a straight answer rather than a tour of the policy, and reading what comes back.
That is what I give you: the exact questions, in the order that works, and how to interpret the replies.
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If school is not the answer right now
Some families arrive having already decided. Others reach it after a year that did not work. Either way the difficulty is the same: home learning looks straightforward until the second week, when the novelty has gone and there is no structure holding it up.
What I build with you is the structure, not the teaching. You know your child. What is usually missing is a shape for the day that survives a bad morning.
- A daily structure that survives a bad morning
- Timetables built around energy, not the clock
- Curriculum, resources and where to find them
- Keeping deadlines visible and manageable
- A workspace that suits your child's sensory needs
- Boundaries, so that learning does not take over the house
When to start
The leverage in this work is in choosing. Once you have enrolled, you are negotiating rather than deciding, and that is a much weaker position.
Three to six months out
Comfortable. Time to understand your child's profile properly, build a shortlist, ask the questions, and get support agreed before you sign.
Two months out
Workable. We move faster and prioritise. All of it can happen over video calls before you arrive.
Already here
Still worth a conversation, but it is a different one. If a placement is not working, that becomes assessment and advocacy rather than school choice.
Working alongside your relocation
If your employer is handling the move, or you are working with a relocation agent, I work alongside them rather than instead of them. They handle housing, visas and logistics. I handle the decision that determines how your child's next three years go.
Every part of the school choice work can happen before you land. By the time you arrive, the decision is made, the support is written down, and there is a named person at the school expecting your child.
What you have at the end
- A shortlist you understand the reasoning behind
- Notes from every inclusion conversation
- Support agreed in writing, before enrolment
- A named contact at the school
- A review date set before day one
Questions about moving here
No. A great many neurodivergent people have no formal identification, and an assessment is often the first step toward understanding rather than something that comes after one. The recommendations I make come from the profile itself, so they are useful whether or not a label is ever attached.
Yes. I hold BPS Registered Test User status and the Certificate of Competence in Educational Testing at level 3A, which is the qualification required for reports supporting exam access arrangements. Reports are prepared to the standards examination boards expect.
Both. Coaching, consultancy and corporate training work well online and I have clients across several time zones. Some formal assessments are better carried out in person, and I will tell you at the outset which applies in your case.
Nikki Mitchell LLC is registered in SHAMS Free Zone in the UAE, at First Floor, Sharjah Media City, Al Bataeh, Sharjah, UAE. In-person work takes place across the UAE, and online work goes anywhere.
Individual assessment and coaching are charged at fixed published rates, which I will send you in writing before anything is booked. Corporate work is quoted per engagement, because the scope varies enormously. The first conversation costs nothing in every case.
Assessment data is held under UK GDPR standards. Nothing is shared with a school, an employer or anyone else without your written consent, and you can ask for your data to be deleted at any point. Reports belong to you.
Yes. School liaison and advocacy is part of the family service. I can attend in person in the UAE or join online, translate what is being said, and follow up on what was agreed.
Yes, and this is worth doing before you arrive rather than after. I can build a shortlist matched to how your child learns, give you the questions that get a straight answer from an inclusion department, and help you get the support your child needs agreed in writing before you enrol. Twenty years inside this system means I know the difference between what a school advertises and what it delivers.
Yes. If school is not the right answer for now, I can help you build the structure around learning at home: a daily routine that survives a bad morning, timetables built around your child's energy rather than the clock, where to find curriculum and resources, how to keep deadlines visible, and a workspace that suits their sensory needs.
Three to six months before you move is comfortable. Two months is workable. Once you have arrived and enrolled somewhere, the useful part of this work has already passed, because the leverage is in choosing rather than in changing later. If you are already here and it is not going well, that is a different conversation and still worth having.
Yes, and it is better that way. The whole shortlisting and questioning stage works over video calls, so we can have your school decision made and the support agreed in writing before you get on the plane.
Yes. If your employer is handling the move, or you are working with a relocation agent, I can work alongside them. They handle housing and logistics. I handle the part that decides how your child's next three years go.
Initial conversations are usually available within a week. Assessment appointments depend on the time of year, and the period before examination entry deadlines is the busiest. If you are working toward a deadline, say so in your first message.
Talk to me before you choose
The first conversation is free, wherever in the world you currently are. Tell me when you are moving and what you already know about your child.