SENCO
The person in a school responsible for children with additional needs. Usually the most useful single relationship a parent has inside a school, and usually the most overloaded.
Why a SENCO matters.
In most UAE schools this is one person carrying a caseload well beyond what anyone could supervise properly, often part-time and often also teaching. That is worth knowing because it changes how you work with them: specific, written, single-issue requests get acted on, and long emails covering six topics do not.
They are also, in practice, the person who decides how much of what is written in a plan actually happens on a Tuesday. It is worth the relationship.
Questions that get a real answer
- What is your caseload this year?
- What is the single most useful thing I could send you?
- Who covers this role when you are not in?
Ask these of anyone, including us. What you are listening for is not the right answer — it is whether the answer is specific enough to be wrong.
Terms that usually turn up alongside it.
Shadow teacher
The common UAE term for a one-to-one classroom assistant. The same role an LSA does. Ask any provider
GlossarySLT
Therapy for communication — understanding, expression, speech sounds, and the social use of language.
GlossaryStimming
Repetitive movement or sound that regulates the nervous system — hand movements, rocking, humming, spinning
Send it to us and we'll translate it.
Any report, from any provider, including ones we have nothing to do with. We will tell you in plain English what it says, what it recommends, and which parts are actually supported by the evidence in it. No charge, and it does not make you a client.