A new pre-school in Bukit Timah will be taking in children aged three to six with different learning needs – whether they are mainstream children or have special needs.
Bright Path Preschool, which can take up to 70 children in its first batch, will offer early intervention therapy within lessons for children with autism or any other needs, even those with high IQs who may need more attention.
The pre-school was opened yesterday (27 Jul) at a ceremony officiated by President Halimah Yacob. It is one of the few pre-schools in recent years to offer inclusive education in Singapore’s early childhood scene. Singapore’s first inclusive pre-school, Kindle Garden, opened in 2016.
Bright Path currently has four children and is expecting around five more to join in August. The pre-school integrates professional therapy into its curriculum, eliminating the need for children to be pulled out for additional therapy sessions.
It has three teachers for now, two of whom are trained in early intervention. It also has a psychologist, a speech therapist and an occupational therapist joining in August.
It will draw up customised plans for each child upon enrolment, with input from educators, healthcare professionals and parents.
Bright Path will also tap expertise from other pre-schools such as Pat’s Schoolhouse and Odyssey The Global Preschool in the network of centres run by its parent firm Busy Bees Asia, a global early education provider.
Ms Julia Teo, Busy Bees’ deputy director for operations, said the new pre-school’s focus is not to label children with formal diagnoses or conditions but to recognise that all of them have different learning needs.
Experts have said that letting children with special needs mix regularly with their mainstream peers from a young age not just helps build a more inclusive society, but also aids the former to improve their social and cognitive skills.
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Source: The Straits Times, 28 July 2018