About Us
Our Story
“I know the pain of having a child turned away from a school simply because they cannot cope with the environment. It’s heartbreaking and overwhelming .”
— Shamaila Nawaz
Small Steps was born from the deeply personal journey of our co-founder, Shamaila Nawaz—a British citizen and long-time resident of Dubai. As the mother of a young boy with autism, Shamaila’s journey began in 2015 when her son, then just three and a half years old, was accepted into FS1 at a school in Dubai.
However, following the induction, Shamaila quickly realized that her son was unable to meet the school’s expectations. Despite voicing her concerns to the staff, support was limited. Left without local options, she turned to the United Kingdom for resources and guidance.
It was during this time that she recognized a significant gap in accessible, high-quality support services for children with learning difficulties in the region. This eye-opening experience became the catalyst for creating Small Steps Big Dreams—a place built to provide the understanding, support, and inclusion she once struggled to find.”
Our Mission
To see every child supported and successfully integrated into mainstream education.
Our Vision
To make society less challenging and more accepting for children with autism and learning differences.
Case Study 1
Azaan is a bright and lovely young boy who joined small steps at our GEMS founders School facility in September 2018.Azaan was referred to Small Steps by the inclusion teams at Gems founders school where he attended mainstream classes.
He was encountering several behavioral and social skill changes that affected his learning and development.
He demonstrated severe disruptive behavioral changes when he found himself in situations which he did not prefer such as denied access to favourite object, increased work demand, group work, attention from others, loud noises etc.With the help of our collaborative efforts at Small Steps, he was able to improve vigorously.
