About Myself

I worked as a lawyer for several years in Singapore, before I moved to Jakarta, Indonesia with my family. Over there, I did some freelance writing for a magazine, and experienced an expatriate lifestyle. After a few years, with my son’s diagnosis, we moved to London, UK. We lived there for 7 years, and my sons attended the local schools there. Upon our return to Singapore, I  dabbled  in property, before deciding that it would be more useful to impact the lives of young children. I started to run a Montessori preschool and have been doing that ever since. I also carried on learning, attaining the Diploma (Conversion) in Kindergarten Education-Teaching in early childhood education as well as the International Diploma in Montessori Pedagogy by Montessori Centre International (MCI) (London). This year, I will be starting a new course on childhood leadership (ADECL)

In my few years running a Montessori preschool, I have come across a few children with borderline to moderate/severe Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The parents of such children mainly fall within 3 categories; (a) very proactive and keen to help the child, (b) is aware but not proactive to help the child and (c) in complete denial and not interested to do any interventions. As most childhood educators I know have said, it is never easy to relay news of any developmental delay to parents, especially those in category (c). It is a sensitive topic and has to be delicately discussed. Quite often, parents hope that their children will outgrow their developmental issues, and instead point their fingers at educators/therapists to work their “miracle” on their children. As a parent and educator, I straddle both sides and understand the difficulties that face both parties. However, I hope that my personal story can help in emphasising the urgency of getting interventions done earlier rather than later. 

I also want to start a conduit through this blog, by which service providers, like various therapists (Speech and language, occupational therapy, sensory integration and other professionals for special needs) as well as interested persons (with or without the training) can be contacted to offer their services for therapy work or on a freelanced basis. Parents can then engage them privately for their therapies, shadowing or respite assistance.