NURTURE PODS - Key Persons
The above certifications equip Alex with the expertise and best practices in supporting children with special needs in mainstream school in Singapore.
Alex obtained his degree in Psychology in the National University of Singapore (NUS). He has many years of experience working with children exhibiting a wide array of learning and behavior difficulties, with many diagnosed as having autism spectral disorder (ASD).
Alex has generously provided the necessary emotional support and advice to the parents of children under his care.
Embarking a step beyond, Alex has provided extracurricular activities to invoke the curiosity of these children by organising various group outings for all the children to participate in. His lifelong commitment is in fulfilling Nurture Pods' mission as "An Early Intervention Centre for Children in Your Home".
Clinical Director, Alex Liau is the first Singaporean and personnel in the Asia Pacific region to be trained in the introduction and advanced course of the SCERTS program.
Ashley graduated from Ngee Ann Polytechnic with a Diploma in Child Psychology and Early Education (CPEE). She is passionate about working with children with special needs and believes strongly in the importance of early intervention. She hopes to make a positive impact in their lives by offering support for them and to their families in their daily life.
Ashley previously worked as an English Teacher at NTUC First Campus My First Skool. During her 2 years of work as an English Teacher, she worked with children ranging from 2 - 6 years old mainly with the Nursery children. Some of her roles include (1) conducting daily activities and lessons, (2) developing progressive lesson plans for Nursery to Kindergarten 2 children in the domain of Music and Movement and Motor Skill Development and (3) promoting parental involvement by conducting parental workshops and involving parents into the classroom.
In her own time, Ashley is actively involved in her Taekwondo classes. She assists and teaches children ranging from age 5 to 16 with different learning profile, including a few children with mild special needs such as learning difficulty and mild Autism. She engages them through different methods of teaching. Her work experiences and her knowledge gained through the academic courses had helped her tremendously in managing children's difficult behaviours. She believes strongly that every child deserves to learn to their best capability and helps them to achieve their fullest potential.
Job Titles:
- Founder and President of Social Stories
Job Titles:
- Director of the Social Skills Training Project
- International Consultant
Dr Baker is the Director of the Social Skills Training Project, a private organization serving individuals with autism and social communication problems in New Jersey, USA for over 20 years. He directs social skills training for Millburn Public Schools in New Jersey and is on the professional advisory board of Autism Today, ASPEN, ANSWER, YAI, the Kelberman Center and several other autism organizations.
He has authored several award winning books, including Social Skills Training for Children and Adolescents with Aspergers Syndrome and Social Communication Problems; Preparing for Life: The Complete Handbook for the Transition to Adulthood for Those with Autism and Aspergers Syndrome; The Social Skills Picture Book; The Social Skills Picture Book for High School and Beyond; and No More Meltdowns: Positive Strategies for Managing and Preventing Out-of-Control Behavior. He has provided over 300 workshops in the US and internationally on social skills training and behavior management. In addition, his work has been featured on ABC world news, Nightline, CBS morning show and other national television programs.
His organization has developed a combination of strategies supported by empirical evidence, including applied behavior analytic techniques, positive behavioral support techniques, structured learning, task analysis, modeling, role-playing, and reinforcement.
As an International Consultant of Nurture Pods, Dr Baker will assist in ensuring that high quality content will be delivered for parents' training and the intervention programs for the children. He will review the curriculum and therapy programs and utilize his extensive training and experiences in working with children with special needs to help the centre deliver effective intervention programs.
Diagnosed with "Atypical Development and strong autistic tendencies" and "too sick" for outpatient treatment, Dr. Shore was recommended for institutionalization. Nonverbal until four, and with much support from his parents, teachers, wife, and others, Stephen is now a professor at Adelphi University where his research focuses on matching best practice to the needs of people with autism.
In addition to working with children and talking about life on the autism spectrum, Stephen presents and consults internationally on adult issues pertinent to education, relationships, employment, advocacy, and disclosure as discussed in his books Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences with Autism and Asperger Syndrome, Ask and Tell: Self-advocacy and Disclosure for People on the Autism Spectrum, the critically acclaimed Understanding Autism for Dummies, and the newly released DVD Living along the Autism Spectrum: What it means to have Autism or Asperger Syndrome.
President emeritus of the Asperger's Association of New England and former board member of the Autism Society, Dr. Shore serves on the boards of the Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism Association, the Autism Services Association, and other autism related organizations."
Job Titles:
- Instructor
- Member of the Philippine Association of Speech Pathologists
Ms. De Jesus graduated from Cebu Doctors' University, Philippines, with a degree in Bachelor of Sciences in Speech-Language Pathology in April 2017. She completed this 5-year program and acquired 1,460 clinical hours of internship where she evaluated and treated adult and pediatric patients with a variety of conditions.
Ms. De Jesus is a bona fide member of the Philippine Association of Speech Pathologists (PASP), and is in good standing with the association. She uses her PASP Certification number 17-0484 for professional practice.
Other than understanding developmental disorders, Ms. De Jesus also worked as a junior speech-language pathologist (SLP) consultant at Buildabilities, Inc., a multi-disciplinary therapy center in Cebu City, Philippines. As an SLP consultant at that center, she conducted speech-language evaluation, developed treatment programs, and implemented appropriate intervention strategies for children with developmental disabilities.
Aside from working in a therapy center, Ms. De Jesus also worked as a school based SLP consultant in Bridging Homes Learning Center, Inc. (BHLC), an inclusive preschool in Cebu City, Philippines, that follows the International Preschool Curriculum. She conducted speech and language evaluations, developed appropriate treatment programs, attended interprofessional strategic meetings, and conducted push-in therapy to the students in BHLC with developmental disabilities. She also provided specialized PROMPT evaluation treatment and services for children with apraxia.
Ms. De Jesus is a PROMPT Level I Trained Therapist. She received her specialization training and certification last November 2017 in Manila, Philippines. PROMPT therapy is a specialized technique where tactile-kinesthetic cues are provided to the child's articulators (jaw, tongue, lips) in order to help the child produce a target sound word, phrase or sentence.
As part of her advocacy for the SLP profession, Ms. De Jesus worked as an Advocacy Supervisor in Cebu Doctors' University, Department of Speech-Language Pathology. She supervised student-interns in formulating advocacy programs that would suit the needs of the university's recipients such as Asilo de la Milagrosa, an orphanage in Cebu City, Philippines and Center for Change, a therapy center that provides pro-bono speech and occupational therapy services in Binalbagan, Negros Occidental, Philippines.
Lastly, Ms. De Jesus has worked as a college instructor in Cebu Doctors' University, Department of Speech-Language Pathology. She was a course facilitator to various subjects such as: Introduction to Speech-Language Pathology, Professional Communication and Professional Development, Developmental Practicum 1&2: Pediatric and Geriatric Development, Neuroanatomy & Physiology for Speech-Language Pathology, Voice Disorders, Ethics in Speech-Language Pathology, and Language Conditions in Children.
Yi Shi obtained her BSc. (Hons) Psychology with Lancaster University and subsequently pursued Masters of Education (Special Education) with Nanyang Technological University. During her studies, she has completed various modules related to child's development such as developmental psychology, learning disabilities, behavioural management, cognitive development and assessment as well as curriculum development for different learners. The knowledge obtained from academic courses provided her with holistic understanding of human learning.
Upon graduation from her bachelor's degree, she has been working with children with various developmental needs (autism, ADHD, global developmental delay) at early intervention setting as a behavioural therapist. Her experience working with multi-disciplinary team supported by speech pathologist, occupational therapist and ABA consultants has equipped her with a wide range of hands-on-skills to assist children with different learning needs. She has also attended ABA training courses and oral motor programs to further build on her knowledge repertoire to assist children with special needs.
Yi Shi's interest lies in empowering children achieve their full potential and making a positive impact on the families and community. Aside from work, she is actively involved in in voluntary work and has worked with people from diverse backgrounds such as refugees, physically disabled, children and youths. She wishes to see a more inclusive society and strives to make that a reality "I can't change the world alone but I can cast a stone across waters to create many ripples".
Job Titles:
- Early Intervention Training Consultant
Michelle Poh is in charge of the Social Skills Classes and Social Skills Programs at Nurture Pods.
Michelle graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) with an Honours Degree in Psychology in 2010. Few years prior to her graduation, Michelle was working as a behavioral therapist. As a result of her work, she undertook special modules in NUS pertaining to behaviors and conditioning. She also realized that the primary concerns of most parents with children with autism are their abilities to communicate and socialize, she thereby undertook further modules on language and cognition. Michelle was fortunate that she was able to apply the various theories she had learnt in university in her work such as discrete trial training, differentiate reinforcement, functional behavioral analysis and more. With years of service delivery and counting, Michelle has gained extensive experience in working with children with varying degree of autism and behavioral disorders.
Due to her immerse passion in delivering intervention to children with autism; Michelle was posted to Perth, Australia at her previous company, to undertake further behavioral management work and studies. It was a very fruitful trip as she learnt to design ABA programs which are more play-based while inculcating skills to the children. She deeply believes that ABA programs should be fun and functional as such her programs are usually very engaging and parents commented that they never fail to hear their children laughing in her sessions. This overseas stint also gave her the unique advantage in managing cases across diverse cultures.
With her dynamic and energetic personality, she has actively conducted social skill programs and assisted her clients in arrangement and conducting of play dates. Michelle is a trained provider of social skills programs under Social Skill Training Institute (Australia) and will be running a series of social skills projects for Nurture Pod Pte Ltd.
During her leisure time, Michelle is an avid trekker and is a member of NUS Make It Real Mountaineering club. She has also participated in various community dramas and performances.