Jammiemonster

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Latest post on 10 March 2011 - 16:51

Hi av1998, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post a link to Gulf News but here goes: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/special-school-1.774167 This is my son! very proud! If it doesn't come through, it's an article in todays Express about the centre. He was the first child there mid October last year. On his own for first two weeks so had 3 teachers undivided attention!! He started off doing 3 days at 7000 a month and November moved up to 5 days at 9000 a month. It is 8 to 1, so 25hrs a week. They do toilet training in class, feeding etc. He has learnt to use a fork and his spoon properly since being there. They have lunch and snack that you provide and a recess. You get a written report page home each day. HTH

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Latest post on 09 March 2011 - 21:35

They told me all along his number on the list and I just presumed 3-4 kids would leave. I underestimated the amount of siblings! When we got email to come for assessment I thought he must have a place, as no problems with assessment year before. At the FS2 assessment most of them siblings, head teacher said straight up they had no places yet but would be filling what places come up from these kids ( I think 11 siblings assessed? and they have priority) so I realized then not much of a chance! Luckily got the place in Jan.

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Latest post on 09 March 2011 - 16:23

P.s they have summer camp, Libra? not sure of spelling. I think advertised outside school and on website.

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Latest post on 09 March 2011 - 16:19

Do you have your son on any other waiting lists? places offered anywhere else? It might be fine this year but my son was number 4 on the wait list last year after turning down an FS1 spot the previous year (which I lived to regret) and there were just so many siblings that he missed out! Even some of the siblings missed out. It's because they only have 19 kids in 4 classes for FS1 and the same for FS2 so no extra spaces if everyone returns. My son was offered a place on Boxing day for Jan term, just 2 children had left and my son got one space and a sibling the other, we were told better to take it now as still 70 odd kids on the wait list for Year 1 this September! He absolutely loves it there and we are so pleased we made the decision to take the place and move schools. I had not entertained the idea of him not getting a place for Sept 2010 as he'd been on the list since he was 18mths but they just didn't have any places. I did a real scramble and put his name down at a few schools but it was February and most schools had taken there kids for the year. He ended up at Regent for a term. I even contemplated him staying home for a term!!! He would have gone mad. HTH

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Latest post on 08 March 2011 - 17:18

Just had a look and my son did his FS2 assessment last year beginning of April, letter came out 28th March. He had no siblings at school but all seemed to be assessed at same time. HTH edited by Jammiemonster on 08/03/2011 <em>edited by Jammiemonster on 08/03/2011</em>

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Latest post on 08 March 2011 - 17:05

Hi av1998, from previous posts I understand you have twin boys with ASD? My son had been at the Child Early Intervention Medical Center for over a year and in October 2010 started at the Child Learning and Enrichment Medical Centre. This is the new one in Al Wasl owned by the same people as CEIMC. He has made so much progress is this nursery setting with aba based lessons in a small group (max 6 kids per class, 3 assistants). He had previously done over a year of intensive aba/speech and OT and not made much progress at all! They have kids there from 2.5yrs to 10yrs plus speech and OT, music and dance. I don't have any first hand knowledge of Stepping Stones but from therapists that I know that had previously worked there the feedback was not good. At least with CEIMC it is monitored by CARD in the US. Also even though my son had a diagnosis and assessment done here, one in NZ and a CARD one done Stepping stones wanted 5,000 dirhams to assess him again just 2 mths after this assessments! I thought this was pretty bogus so steered clear of them. HTH

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Latest post on 13 February 2011 - 21:37

The registrars at both DBS and Wellington International told me that school isn't compulsory until Year 1, so turning 6yrs. Both are British curriculum. HTH

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Latest post on 13 February 2011 - 21:32

DESS in Oud Metha start at FS2.

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Latest post on 13 February 2011 - 09:41

My son was at Regent for a term before moving to DBS and it is hugely different. One very noticeable difference is the class size, when he started in September there were 26 kids in the class at Regent and 7 FS2 classes! His class had one teacher and one filipina teaching assistant. The teaching assistant did not make herself known and was not involved in my son's education. She seemed to be there to tidy up, sort out bags/lunches/toileting etc. My son was lucky to have a very enthusiastic and lovely teacher, but maybe 26 kids on her own is a bit overwhelming?! Totally different situation at DBS, 19 kids, 1 teacher and 1 teaching assistant. The teaching assistant has children at the school, is very involved and is really functioning as another teacher in the class. It makes a big difference. Also only 4 FS2 classes, so common areas not as chaotic. DBS just seem so much more organized, like they had been doing it for longer and have some sort of system in place. Regent are trying but maybe just not quite sure what they are trying to do? (if that makes sense?) I think Regent need to limited class size and intake for each year group, it's not a massive site so always seemed very crowded to me. HTH <em>edited by Jammiemonster on 13/02/2011</em>

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Latest post on 10 February 2011 - 15:24

Hi Marianna, my oldest boy is in FS2 at DBS and I am extremely happy with it. It has such a nice community feel. I have done a tour of Wellington and it looks great too, more facilities than DBS definitely. It depends i think on what you are looking for in the school as Wellington foundation unit is very play based, learning through play etc where as DBS is a bit more structured. My son has homework and 2 readers a week plus a wordbook, he learns 10 words per night and if read correctly the next day gets a new list. He is quite advanced so he now spells the 10 words each day. So I think it's good that they have noticed he can do more and are challenging him. The class size is great at DBS, a maximum of 19 kids in FS1 and 2 and then it goes up to 25 for Year 1. HTH <em>edited by Jammiemonster on 10/02/2011</em>

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Latest post on 30 January 2011 - 09:08

Really recommend the Heritance Kandalama in Dambulla, amazing! We did a trip all over Sri Lanka last November with a then 2.5 year old and a 16mth old and this hotel was the highlight! You can do the Dambulla Cave temples, Sigiriya, Pollunarawa, Elephant Safari/Ride all as day trips plus much more. It's about 4 hours from the airport. We had a suite on the top floor of the hotel, amazing view, monkeys, elephants, kids loved it! Went to Nuwara Eliya, tea plantations fascinating but town itself pretty ho hum and run down plus nothing to do. We had planned 4 nights there but tour guide advised 1 night would be enough and he was right! got 3 more days at the beach instead! We used Milton from Tangerine Tours. HTH I copied this from an earlier thread (we went November 2008) To see the elephant orphanage we stayed at the Earl's Regency in Kandy. Definitely get a driver, all the hotels had accom and meals for him and it was all included in the price. No Problem with young kids, driver even had car seats in his van for us at airport!

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Latest post on 20 January 2011 - 11:30

Full page ad in todays Gulf News for both PB and PBK, "Now Open in Dubai Mall"

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Latest post on 19 January 2011 - 19:30

I like Pajamas!

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Latest post on 18 January 2011 - 20:08

P.s Sleepy, can I have your recipe?

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Latest post on 18 January 2011 - 20:08

Fish Pie Start by peeling the spuds and get them on to boil. Then make a white sauce, melt butter (about 50 grams) the add 3-4 tablespoons cornflour, heat until bubbles. Remove from heat add about 500mls milk gradually, return to heat and stir constantly until it thickens. Now I then add optional bacon diced (about 200gs) best if you fry it up first and onion ( 1 medium) finely chopped. Salt and Pepper 2 cans Tuna in water not drained (normal size? is it 180gms?) Frozen mixed vege and broccoli forets? whatever you like really? few handfuls. I also like to add 4-6 hard boiled eggs chopped. All goes into the white sauce (except the eggs) and a bit of mixed herbs or parsley. Stir through for about 5mins then tip into casserole dish. Then stir through eggs. Sometimes I then chuck in some cherry toms. Top with mashed potato, grated cheese, rice crumbs a few more cherry toms and bake for 45mins at 180C. I use fan bake. As you can see it's a bit of a make it up as you go along recipe that my mum used to make, really good comfort food and the kids love it!

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EW NEWBIE

Latest post on 18 January 2011 - 18:08

What about Media One? or Radisson Blu, Media City? Nelson's in Media Rotana (bit crusty)LOL or Prego's

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Latest post on 18 January 2011 - 18:00

I don't think Belgian Beer Cafe in Tecom does Brunch, just the one in Festival City?

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Latest post on 18 January 2011 - 14:55

No not lively. No dancing/band anything like that. Nice food, very good selection, bits from each of the restaurants in the hotel. It's in an atrium (surprise) and is very light and spacious but not a party kind of brunch. We have been twice, first time they had a very bored looking singer, singing sort of background music, she was speaking english (i think?) but very hard to understand, the second time was Eid and it was a guy with an Oud. HTH

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Latest post on 18 January 2011 - 11:17

http://www.booking.com/hotel/tr/hippodrome.html?aid=311088;label=postbooking_confemail (family room that had separate lounge and 2 bathrooms, we had 3 adults and 2 kids, aged 2 and 3) We stayed at this place Nov 2009 and it was great, def stay in the old part of town, tram is very good especially for pushchairs (comes up flush with curb) and very regular, no need to have timetable, always one going by. All the big attractions are walking distance from sultanhamet (sp) area and then tram down wharf for Bosporus (sp) cruise or tram across bridge to Galatea Tower and shopping district. Was fab, we stayed 4 nights. HTH P.s the hotel picked us up at airport for free <em>edited by Jammiemonster on 18/01/2011</em>

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Latest post on 18 January 2011 - 09:25

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/#what Have a look at the symptoms of Celiac Disease, a blood test and biopsy will confirm it. My son has it and it was confirmed at 2.5yrs old. His main symptom was constant diarrhea and malabsorption, he gained no weight in a year, he was 11kgs at 2yrs! Now his diet has been changed he is a very healthy 17.5kgs at 3.5yrs, so a dramatic difference. It is also possible to have a gluten intolerance that isn't Celiac Disease but not sure how they test for it? http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/noncoeliac-gluten-intolerance-for-real-research/2049901.aspx If you do a search on here there are lots of threads re Gluten free food and recipes. HTH

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Latest post on 16 January 2011 - 21:43

I got the lasagne sheets from the organic at The Greens. Casalare Pasta ( white box) also Carrefour now stock more gluten free foods and they have a pasta range but it's super expensive, the lasagne was 32 dirhams! Lemon Polenta Cake 450g Butter 450g Caster sugar 450g Ground almonds 2 tsp vanilla essence 6 eggs zest of 4 lemons juice of 2 lemons 225g polenta 1tsp baking powder (gluten free available at most supermarkets) 1/2 tsp salt used butter and rice flour to dust spring-form tin preheat oven to 160C. beat butter and sugar with electric mixer add almonds and vanilla beat in eggs one at a time fold in lemon zest, juice, polenta, baking powder and salt bake for 50mins or until set ( i use fan bake but still took 60mins ) Serve with cream or ice cream or on it's on I used Bob's Red Mill Polenta from the organic at The Greens.

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Latest post on 16 January 2011 - 19:12

In terms of meals... my son loves: Fish pie (white sauce with Tuna, vege, Bacon and Boiled egg) topped with mashed spuds Cottage or Shepards Pie Chilli Con Carne, I make it with kidney beans and chickpeas Chicken and Rice (boil a whole chicken in water/onion/cumin/chicken stock cube(gluten free) and a can of toms. Remove chicken after about 45mins simmering and finish off in the oven (roast) and then put rice in water that's left, lid on and turn down. Serve with salad. Thai Green Curry Rice and Tuna Risotto Gluten Free Lasagne with chicken and spinach And a good old roast dinner! HTH <em>edited by Jammiemonster on 16/01/2011</em>

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Latest post on 16 January 2011 - 19:06

Just made the school lunches and my youngest is gluten free, some suggestions: Omelette, chopped in bits or with a filling rolled up Meat, he usually has shredded chicken in his lunch box Rice crackers/cakes Dried fruits Cereal bars (organic has a good range of gluten free) Gluten free biscuits Gherkins/Olives/Cheese Chopped up fruits, I find melons easy for the lunch box Carrot/Cucumber/celery sticks Yogurts Chicken/Fish nuggets crumbed with ground almonds or rice crumbs or polenta Quiche Fried Rice/Rice Salad I recently made a great cake with ground almonds/lemon and Polenta but no good for school because of the nuts but nice for the weekend? HTH

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Latest post on 16 January 2011 - 14:59

We have just started using this: http://www.proloquo2go.com/About/article/ipad I hadn't heard of it before but my brother did some research and gave it to my son for Christmas. So far he is putting his whole hand on the screen rather than pushing one symbol but I'm sure he'll get the hang of it.

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Latest post on 16 January 2011 - 14:56

http://www.pecs.org.uk/shop/asp/prodtype.asp?prodtype=7 We have this folder, it's not that big? pages A5 size? I have loads of templates for cards if you need them? The library store in SZ rd has sticky velcro by the roll, very cheap. You can buy a laminator at Sharaf, ours was about 100 dirhams, not a flash one but does the trick. Just copied this earlier post with directions to the library store. HTH Copied my post from an earlier thread Where are you coming from? If its from the Springs/Lakes etc side - Take the Al Manara exit on SZR and follow the road to the service lane. You will pass the Al Quoz Metro Station (Noor Islamic Bank Station). A bit further down is Dubai Library. If coming from Burdubai side, take the 3rd interchange exit and u-turn on to the other side of SZR. Take the first right and follow into the service lane. Rest instructions are as above Hope thats clear!

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