The questions people actually ask.
Not about us. About what this costs, what a school is supposed to do, where to go for an assessment, and what the words in the report mean. Written to be useful whether or not you ever contact us — and where there is a good argument against something we offer, it is on the page.
The questions about money.
We cannot publish our own rate card until it is signed off, and we will not invent one. What we can do is tell you what drives the number, what is usually left out of a quote, and how to make two providers comparable.
What a shadow teacher costs
Why quotes vary so widely, what is usually excluded, and how to make two providers comparable.
4 minute readWhat therapy costs
How providers price sessions, why per-hour comparisons mislead, and what to work out before you commit.
4 minute readInsurance and therapy
What tends to be covered, what usually is not, and how to get a straight answer from your insurer.
3 minute readThe costs nobody quotes
Reports, meetings, holidays, travel, notice periods and record retrieval — the line items that arrive later.
The questions about school.
What the UAE framework actually says, what a school is expected to do, and what to send when the answer is no. None of this is legal advice — it is what tends to move the conversation.
Students of determination
What the UAE term means, which regulator applies where, and what the framework expects of a school.
4 minute readWhen a school says no
What the sentence usually means, what to send, and the order that gets the most movement.
3 minute readWhat an IEP actually is
How to tell a plan that commits a school to something from a document that commits it to nothing.
3 minute readGetting support agreed
The order that works when a school needs persuading, and what to have written down before you ask.
3 minute readMainstream or specialist
The questions that actually decide it, and why the ambitious-sounding answer is not always the right one.
The questions at the beginning.
For the weeks before anybody has a label, when the most useful thing you can do is cheap, reversible and worth doing either way.
Where to get an assessment
Who diagnoses what, why we are not among them, and what you can start without a label.
4 minute readSpeech delay or autism?
What professionals are actually looking at, why the question can wait, and what to do meanwhile.
3 minute readWhen a milestone matters
Which patterns are worth acting on, which are within ordinary range, and what to do either way.
3 minute readOn a waiting list
The months before an appointment are not dead time. Six things worth doing while you wait.
The words people use at you.
Plain accounts of the things you will be offered, including what the criticism of each one is. Longer than a glossary entry, shorter than an evening.
What ABA is
The method, the criticism from autistic adults, and the questions that separate good practice from bad.
3 minute readShadow teacher vs LSA
The labels are interchangeable. What actually differs is supervision, targets and whether anyone planned an ending.
3 minute readWhat OT actually does
Nothing to do with jobs. What OT addresses for a child, and how to tell whether it is working.
And the ones written to be used against us.
The articles above answer a question. The guides are tools you take into a meeting — one of them is eleven questions to put to any provider, including this one.
What to do first
A practical order of operations, including the two things worth doing before you contact anybody.
How to read a recommendation
What a good one contains, and the four things a weak one always leaves out.
Eleven questions before you sign
Ask every provider. What a good answer sounds like, and what each evasion usually means.
Tell us what you've noticed.
Twenty minutes on the phone with someone who does this every day. No assessment, no cost, and no obligation to become a client at the end of it.
If we're not the right people, we'll tell you who is. That includes naming providers we don't own, and it costs you nothing either way.