Every child deserves the best education available to them; this includes children with developmental delays or learning challenges.
If you’ve been looking for support to help your child improve their academic and social skills, you will be happy to know that various early intervention preschools will welcome your child with open arms and guide them to reach their full potential.
You can trust these schools to have your children in good hands and well cared for with experienced teachers, therapists and specialists.
Preschools with early intervention programmes for autism and developmental delays in Singapore
Image Source: Facebook / Applied Behavior Consultants – ABC Center Singapore
The Applied Behavior Consultants of ABC Center Singapore have helped thousands of individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities for over 30 years.
Highlights:
- Through their Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) method, children with autism go through programs that could help them prepare for school readiness and for teens to develop their independent living and social skills.
- You can ensure that your child will be given appropriate focus as programmes will be designed individually to fit each individual’s needs.
- They also include an Early Preps Preschool for early intervention where kids ages 3 – 6 learn in small groups while still having individualised education plans.
- The programme aims to better prepare your kid for primary mainstream or special needs school in the future.
(Central)
Locations: 318 Tanglin Road, 01-42, Singapore 247979
Phone: (65) 94236248
Email: [email protected]
(East):
Locations: 231 Mountbatten Road, Mountbatten Centre Blk D 01-03, Singapore 397999
Phone: (65) 83803297
Email: [email protected]
Image Source: Facebook / All Hands Together
For early intervention programmes to help your child with special needs, All Hands Together has lesson plans developed in line with the Ministry of Education’s NEL framework but personalised to fit their students’ diverse learning styles and needs.
Highlights:
- The centre provides multi-sensorial learning experiences through other different programmes to suit the specific needs of children.
- They also offer a personalised learning programme where you could either have a tutor visit your home or teach your child through their guidance.
Location: The Yards, 396 Joo Chiat Place, Singapore 428079
Parent Reviews:
I cannot thank you enough. Jawwad has improved so much in terms of attention and engagement. He tries to focus and remain calm rather than getting frustrated like before. We are delighted.
I no longer need to make him realise I am talking to him physically; he listens amazingly. My child is even communicating with my sister on Skype. He has never paid attention to video calls before.
– Jawwad, two years old, Playgroups & parent-led learning programme
All Hands Together has given my son excellent support in his academics. We have been with AHT for about three years, and they have worked wonderfully with his school and Occupational Therapist. My son loves his teacher Kalysiah and always looks forward to “teacher Yaso’s school", as he calls the AHT centre. They make the lessons fun and engaging, always working around his interests.
– Toby, seven years old, Early intervention & learning programme
Image Source: Facebook / Bridge Learning
Children with learning difficulties and disabilities can find specialised early intervention to improve school readiness.
Highlights:
- Bridge Learning is the first and leading one-step centre with comprehensive services for children ages seven months to 12 years old.
- Their Dynamic Diagnostic Assessment (DDA™) consists of stress-free and enjoyable activities and games while assessing the child’s learning skills, including reading age, comprehension age, auditory and visual memory, fine and gross motor skills, attention span and more.
- After completing the DDA™, they will provide an Individualised Developmental and Progress Profiling (IDPP) based on your child’s performance to help them through their core and elective programmes curriculum.
- Parents may also access their Bridge Early Intervention E-Portal (BEE), where they can view ready-made intervention plans customised to their child’s needs and keep track of their kid’s progress within the programme.
Locations:
- 20 Jurong West Street 93, #04-05 Sports & Recreation Centre, Singapore 648965
- 258 Pasir Ris Street 21, #02-17 Loyang Point, Singapore 510258
Parent Reviews:
After a few terms of Bridge programmes, suddenly, one day (Primary 5, 3rd quarter of 2008), Caris could hear every word we spoke intently. Since that day, she has listened to every word in a spoken sentence and would even correct others’ oral mistakes.
With improved listening, she also improves in speech. She would express her thoughts and feelings more freely. Finally, I felt that my girl no longer has Auditory Processing Disorder(APD). She was diagnosed with APD in Primary 2, 2005. Thanks to her early intervention specialists and Bridge Learning!
– Constance Gow
I am pleased with the orientation and education effort provided by Bridge Learning that has brought out my nephews’ learning interests, Lionel and Amos Yap. Lionel was a challenge as he was very slow in his learning and everything he did.
However, he has shown tremendous improvement after about a year with Bridge Learning. For example, he can now remember his spelling within an hour compared to taking days to remember previously.
The methodology adopted by Bridge has allowed both Lionel and Amos to realise how learning can be made facile despite their learning difficulties. I would recommend Bridge Learning to other parents!
– Katherine Yap
Image Source: Facebook / The Growing Academy
By incorporating the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), The Growing Academy helps its students improve their quality of living by bridging the gap between mainstream and special needs learning. This way, children can better prepare to integrate back into mainstream schools with their peers.
Highlights:
- They offer preschool programs with which their Nursery class enables your child to express themselves through various activities and develop their communication skills by interacting with their teachers and peers.
- For their Kindergarten programme, your child will be able to learn self and social development and improve their academic skills with the help of teachers and therapists.
- Younger kids ages 12 to 23 months may also join their Play Group programme to participate in activities that help them develop their motor skills, sensory explorations and social skills.
Locations:
- 166 East Coast Road S(428872)
- 1187 Upper Serangoon road #01-38 @ The Midtown Hougang S(533971)
- 9 Sin Ming Road #02-01 @ Thomson V One S(575630)
- 398 Upper Paya Lebar Road #01-03/04/05, #02-01 S(534986)
Parent Reviews:
My son is now five and a half years old. He is now engaged in The Growth Academy at East Coast Road. Before this, my son had very severe behavioural and communication problems. From the four months he has been with The Growing Academy, I’ve seen an improvement in his patience to wait and follow directions, not much, but a good start.
My lovely son’s behaviour and communication have improved in seven months. Now, he can maintain brief eye contact to ask things and share things he finds interesting. All these changes give me hope. I am so glad I chose The Growing Academy.
Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt❤️ thanks to Teacher Fir, Teacher Tessa and Teacher YenChew for their love and patient guidance and help to my son. ❤️
Any parent still looking for professional help for their child may consider The Growing Academy. At the same time, TGN has an app to update children’s progress in school every day. The App also makes it very convenient for parents to contact teachers.
– Carol Liew
We relocated from the US to Singapore three weeks ago. This significant environmental change has been a big challenge for everyone in our family. My son was diagnosed with ASD in the US.
He faces challenges related to language delay and severe communication problems. Presently, he is actively participating in The Growth Academy at Thomson.
We appreciate Teacher Lin, Teacher Le, and Teacher Natasya for supporting and encouraging our son, and helping him engage in play and learning with his peers. I can observe his progress every day. I definitely will recommend this school to all my friends.
– Liz Yin
The Kaleidoscope Therapy Centre offers help to children and their families as their services focus on providing the best support for parents by partnering with them in the therapy process.
Highlights:
- Their play-based intervention programme, Ready Let’s Go, helps children improve their skills to succeed in preschool through activities predominantly in groups while providing individual therapy support for each child.
- The activities include the development of the child’s language, social skills, fine motor skills, listening skills, sensory exploration, imaginary play skills, and music and movement skills.
Parent Reviews:
I’m glad to share that the therapy sessions helped my child immensely improve his speech within a short span of 2 months. I am very grateful to my therapist, Isabel Tan.
Her expertise in identifying and understanding the child’s needs helps curate a suitable activity for each session. My child is also very comfortable with her since Day 1 of the session!
– Catherine Hu, Mother of Kayler Kwek (2 years old)
We are beyond blessed to have come across Kaleidoscope’s EIP: Ready Let’s Go for our then two-and-a-half-year-old boy.
The therapy and lessons he gets to enjoy every day of Ready Let have enabled him to reach milestones we are so grateful for.
The friends he made in Ready Let’s have helped him gain confidence and skills in communicating and using his words.
The therapists that have worked with our boy have just been excellent.
– Fiza
Image Source: Facebook / KidsFirst
Children with special needs may find an optimal learning environment at KidsFirst.
This early intervention centre helps kids ages 2 to 12 years old with various challenges such as Autism, Language Delays, Global Development Delay, Cerebral Palsy, ADHD and Down Syndrome.
You can trust their team of highly experienced therapists and specialists as they assess their students to create an individualised education program for each of them.
Highlights:
They also offer clinic-based pediatric therapy programmes for children aged 0 to 17.
This is to help them reach social-emotional, language, cognitive and physical developmental milestones through 1 hour individualised therapy sessions and group-based intervention.
Location: 8 Hongkong St, Singapore 059651
As one of the first full-fledged Special Education Preschools in Singapore, KidzRock International Preschool has various school programs that provide equal learning opportunities for children with special needs.
Highlights:
- The school’s mission is to equip its students with readiness skills to prepare them for particular needs or mainstream school.
- Their Special Education Programme focuses on the five major domains: cognition, communication, social adaptation, fine motor, and gross motor.
- Kids aged 2 to 6 get individualised support with the school’s low one-teacher-to-3 children ratio.
Location: 200 Turf Club Rd, #04-11, Singapore 287994
Nurture Pods focuses on providing children with special needs a learning environment complete with holistic, comprehensive, and effective intervention programmes and equipping them to reach their fullest potential as a student.
Highlights:
- Nurture Pods believes that every child has the right to education, and that is why they offer individualised intervention programmes that can cater to kids, whether at home or school.
- They also have workshops to raise awareness of development disorders among teachers and parents and online courses and eBooks for early intervention programmes.
Location: 314 Thomson Road Eng Aun Mansion Singapore 307659
Tel: 6352 5938
Email: [email protected]
Reviews:
My daughter is taking home-based therapy sessions with Nurture pods and has improved attention and task involvement. Improved attention and tasks since the first day and helped us bring up our daughter by sharing good tips on handling the children.
The therapist assesses the child’s behaviour in each session with care and provides feedback to the parents. Thanks to Nurture pods.
– Himalaya D
After attending lessons at Nurture pods, my girl has consiconsistently stently improved her EL writing and Math cmathing skills. She has also shown improvement in her ability to focus on her work and greater interest and willingness to complete her written tasks.
The teachers teaching my girl are dedicated and prompt in giving me feedback on my girl’s progress and areas of improvement.
Alex, the clinical director of Nurture Pods, met up with the childcare centre teachers my girl is attending and provided strategies to them to help my girl cope better in school.
I am grateful for what they have done for my girl, and I look forward to seeing further improvements in my girl under their guidance.
– Janelle Tay
Image Source: Rainbow Centre website
To help your child go beyond their disabilities, Rainbow Centre offers an Early Intervention Programme (EIP) that involves the entire family.
With a positive relationship between the school team and the family, children with special needs maximise their potential and learning opportunities.
Highlights:
- There are four sub-programmes that the children are placed into that, after being assessed, would be found to fit them best: EIP@Home, Intervention, Preschool (Integrated) and Preschool (Autism).
- The Rainbow Centre Early Intervention Programme is open for kids ages six years old and below who are diagnosed with “mild to severe developmental, intellectual, sensory or physical disabilities, or a combination of disabilities."
Locations: Click here to view centres near you.
Image Source: Facebook / Wee Care Group Singapore
Let your child learn in a safe and secure environment as Wee Care offers programmes for children to get the best possible support.
Highlights:
- Offer both individual and group therapy sessions for early intervention.
- These sessions benefit children who have difficulty handling fast-paced and demanding aspects of society by helping them overcome these through the help of their Intervention team of dedicated therapists.
- By joining their Kidz Club, your child may also build friendships with their peers and develop their social skills through fun activities.
Location: 71 Oxley Rise, #02-02 to #02-08 Singapore 238698
Parent Reviews:
“A lovely nurturing and enabling environment where children can explore who they are and their interests. As a parent, I appreciate that and love the creative tools used to help children gain knowledge. I also find each child’s hands-on and focused approach very reassuring.
The special emphasis on learning by doing and interesting exposure visits across varied themes are unique to Wee Care and a fantastic opportunity for the children to learn truly."
– Devika Loomba
“My son loves going to school. And that is enough validation that this school has got it right. After a month of attending Bright Starts III, he is finishing his lunchboxes and has grown 2 cm! I am a happy mum!"
– Von Yap
Dynamics International School stands out among the best preschools in Singapore, offering specialized early intervention programs for children with autism and developmental delays. The school provides intimate class settings with a low teacher-student ratio of 1:4, ensuring personalized attention for every child. Each student benefits from an individual education plan tailored to their unique needs, supported by a comprehensive academic curriculum from Cambridge International and IPC, as well as a therapeutic curriculum designed by expert occupational therapists, speech therapists, and psychologists. With at least four hours of group therapy sessions per week, Dynamics International School fosters social-emotional learning, collaborative learning, social skills, self-regulation, and fine motor development, all at affordable fees.
For more information, you can contact Dynamics International School:
- Location: 583 Orchard Road, #13-03 Forum The Shopping Mall, Singapore, 238884
- Phone: +65 6100 9235, +65 9380 6207
- Email: [email protected]
Sending our son to Dynamics was the best thing we did for him while we were in Singapore. After going to a big international school like most Expat kids would, it was very clear that the he was just another number to them. And having ADHD and sensory issues he wasnt an ‘easy’ student like most and it was too hard to work with learning difficulties. The teachers at Dynamics are gentle, loving and very patient. Having our son here not only helped him gain confidence and trust in teachers again but it also prepared him to enter a bigger school environment again after leaving Singapore. And having a comprehensive Therapy centre attached is a game changer!
My only regret is not taking him there sooner.
I recommend Dynamics to all parents looking for a small, inclusive and nurturing environment for children with different abilities to the norm or who have had traumatic experiences in mainstream schooling.
What an absolute GEM of a school!
-Estelle Neethling
My daughter has been studying in DIS since 2019. The teachers and therapists are very professional and caring. As the class room size is small, the school teachers are able to attend to each student’s progress and development.
-Jennifer Lim
Total Communication is dedicated to recognizing children as the most valuable and precious resource. At their center, each child is nurtured and invested in, considering their unique talents and developing skillsets. They work closely with families, educators, and each other to deliver innovative and evidence-based therapies within a trans-disciplinary context.
Total Communication offers a range of therapies including:
- Speech Therapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Educational Psychology
- Education Therapy
Their education therapy encompasses:
- Literacy Difficulties
- Maths Difficulties
- Dyscalculia
- Learning Delay
- School Curriculum
- Social Thinking
- Emotional Regulation
- Cognitive Learning
- Beyond Tuitions
For more information, you can contact Total Communication:
- Phone: +65 9115 8895
- Fax: 6467 1004
- Email: [email protected]
- Location: 10 Winstedt Road, Block A #02-01, Singapore 227977
The therapists are engaging and able to tune the lessons to my child’s needs. They executed their plans with clear goals and I have seen improvement in my child’s expressive language skills. My child takes well to Ivy and Darren, who also give tips on what we can do at home to help him further.
-Xiaole Hu
My 4-year-old son has a lisp, and we did a consultation at Total Communication. His speech therapist, Charlotte, was knowledgeable, professional and extremely friendly. My son warmed up to her immediately! As a result, going to speech class quickly became his favorite weekly activity. She was able to help him with his pronunciation while engaging him through play and building his self confidence. We’ve come a long way in just a short 2 months. Thank you!
-Peony Tang
Bright Path Inclusive Preschool provides comprehensive Early Intervention Programmes (EIP) to identify and support children at risk of developmental delays. These programs focus on improving motor, communication, social, self-help, and cognitive skills through individualized curricula tailored to each child’s needs. Bright Path uses the TEACCH method, a structured yet flexible visual teaching program suitable for children of all ages and developmental levels. This approach makes the learning environment comprehensible and can be replicated beyond the school setting, ensuring that even in a group class, each child receives individualized learning.
At Bright Path, specialists work closely with educators to implement ideal teaching techniques for all children to learn and develop effectively. Class placement is based on each child’s current developmental level, with capabilities rated fortnightly by educators and evaluated every semester by the Inclusive Education Consultant. The three available classes are Seed, Bud, and Flower.
For more information, you can contact Bright Path Inclusive Preschool:
- Head Office: 6501 7500
- Enrolment / Visiting: 6937 1374
- Careers/Jobs: +65 9817 8483
- Email for Careers/Jobs: [email protected] (Job seekers only; enquiries regarding enrolment will not be addressed.)
- General Enquiries: [email protected]
I recently had a visit to the school. It has a spacious and lovely outdoor compound, complete with a garden and a playground for the children. With the environmental settings around the school, it makes for a very conducive learning environment. I also noticed how well-kept the centre was and how the children could explore the outdoors and indoors safely. The educators and other staff were also very helpful and friendly. Overall, it was a very nice preschool to visit!
-ninarizzzl
Our boy grew so much in his 1 year at Bright Path that we wished we discovered it sooner. . The facilities, environment as well as educators made our son look forward to going to school everyday and after a month we extended him from half day to full day. He was given academic support, physical therapy and learned life skills at Bright Path which has really helped him transition seamlessly into P1
-Zainal Abidin
Also Read:
Best Preschools in Singapore: Educational Approach, Curriculum, and Reviews From Parents
9 Things To Know Before Choosing a Preschool in Singapore
