About Us
Our Story
“I know the feeling of a child being rejected from a school only because they cannot cope with the school environment, it’s painful and daunting.”- Shamaila Nawaz
Small Steps is born out of the personal experience of our co-founder, Shamaila Nawaz, a British citizen and Dubai resident for the past 7 years. She is the mother of a young boy with autism. Her struggle began in 2015, when her son was 3.5. Shamaila attended an induction at a school in Dubai where her son had been admitted to start FS1.
Soon after the induction, Shamaila realised that her child could not meet the requirements of the school and expressed her concerns to the school’s staff Shamaila initially struggled to find the right support for her son in Dubai. She relied on resources in her home country, the United Kingdom, to provide the right level of care and support for her child. She became aware of a pronounced shortage of high-quality providers to support children with learning difficulties. Her journey and struggle inspired her to establish Small Steps.
Vision
“ To see every child being facilitated and integrated into a mainstream school”
Mission
“Making our society least challenging and more acceptable for Autistic children”
Our Vision
Making our society least challenging and more acceptable for children on the spectrum.
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.
