Bridege Learning Centre

[happymummywife]

We had great experience at Bridge Learning with our daughter & 2 sons! I strongly recommend it to parent. My daughter was very eloquent and reads fantastically but we find some weaknesses in her that that do not reflect her ability well. We went to a number of places & all of them couldn’t identify what areas my child needs help in except for Bridge Learning. Not only their Diagnostic Assessment was accurate and detailed, I enrol in the intervention programes recommended. My daughter made vast improvement by 6 months. We continue for 2 years as they are really good in developing the brain and learning. Now my child is GEP & i believe Bridge Learning has some credit. I’ve spoken to many parents who sat at the reception & all of them speak very well of the effectiveness of the programmes & the teachers. So after few years, I bring my son there also. Honestly, the Early Intervention Specialists there are very PASSIONATE & dedicated like their Founder. You can tell they love the children a lot and are not there just for money. To be fair, as parents we need to give realistic time for them to show improvement and maybe following what are the recommended programmes help?

[happymummywife]

i heard fr my teacher friends from MOE who was tutored by the Founder of Bridge Learning at NIE. They speak very well of her training ability and commented she is the best lecturer/tutor in whole of NIE because of the passion, experience and expertise she has. I thought they were too flattery until heard her speak at an international conference before. She really know her stuff & most impressive. She really know more and can communicate to us laymen better than the professors and thearapists too. I am totally convinced of the training system she set up at Bridge Learning.

I was an ex-MOE teacher. Actually, I find taht Spore parents tend to just take whatever is available & "recommended" by MOE as the "best" & never think what is really effective for the children. Our edu psychologists here don’t know how to do intervention! Because I am from education, i know that many may have paper qualifications to earn more of our money but may not be effective. I’ve asked my MOE friends,they said non-categorical intervention and assessment are actually more difficult than the typical categorical intervention. It requires vast expertise and experience. And it is more effective and practical when working with children. As a mummy, I used to run after brand names but now i look at if it works for my child and if the teachers are passionate and dedicated or not.

[gerberadaisy]

Hi happymummy wife,


May I know what programmes are your children enrolled in and how long are they in it before you see the results? Do you follow up on the home support programme conscientiously? Many thanks!

[baligirl]

Hi, there's an article on Bridge Learning in January 2013's SPRINGnews (page 14 & 15).

http://www.spring.gov.sg/Resources/Documents/SPRINGnews/FV_Jan13/web/flipviewerxpress.html

[gerberadaisy]

Hi baligirl,


Many thanks for the info!

[rabbitgirl]

I did not enrol my kid into any other program though they suggested me to enrol on their IEI and other preschooler program for the best interest of my kid.


Reason being that the cost fee is high. It’s like 2200/for 20 hours session for IEI. And they don’t provide much information about how and what would they do during the IEI except for the general guidelines of the program and also it’s said that it’s tailored made against my kid’s learning profile.

It’s just sharing my experience with the centre. i

[luvmum]

Any parents who have sent their kids there lately? Hv revisited the place after trying out other intervention centres that prove to be ineffective for my child. However, bridge exorbitant cost is holding us back as it’s not a few hundred but thousands that we need to pay to ‘try’. Hope parents can come in and share.

[Sanki28]

Hi all,

My son was diagnosed with mild autism and we couldn't believe it though we knew that he was behaving differently and used to get very cranky from the age of 2 . We were looking for a place where he could get the right therapy as he was still very young . One of our friends suggested for Bridge learning and we took our son for DDA . It was very helpful and we enrolled him for their IEI. It has been 7 months now and we don't regret our decision with the tremendous change we have seen in our son . He is out of all the sign of autism spectrum now , but still we are working on the speech therapy.we have also taken their Harvard little program and my son loves it. The teachers are very dedicated and also they have very structured method. We have got reports on their daily activities and also got regular updates from the teacher..please keep in mind when you take up any such programs that the teachers are not the only ones responsible for the growth of your child but we as parents must work hand In hand by repeating the same activities at home with the kids then we make the recovery process much faster..

[elcy_05]

Cost is a major setback at Bridge Learning. I sent my son there for assessment. Hourly rates are $150/hr for weekdays and $180/hr (I think) for weekends. My assessment was 3h35mins long and there were no written reports just a discussion with the founder who was the person who did the assessment. You can do the maths and know how much my assessment fee ended up as. Parents are not allowed in the room while assessment takes place so essentially we don’t know if the 3h35mins was indeed well spent.


The founder told me my autistic son had some sensory integration issue that’s why it affecting his ability to read. She recommended an IEI (individual intervention program) and their signature Auditory Pro program to go hand in hand and best to do 2 sessions of total 2 hrs a week. A package price of 20 sessions came up to $2700. There is also a one time enrollment fee of $200 per student, another $200 learning material fee PER PROGRAM to pay on top of the $2000+ course fees. And mind you these are all VIP rates. VIP card is $100 perpetual membership entitling you to "discounted rates" of courses and material. I asked what material do they use that costs that much and do we eventually keep them? Answer is no we don’t get to own them and these material will be used to conduct the lessons for the child. To me, not packaging the material fee as part of the course fee is silly. It’s quite a turn off to know I am paying that much for material that I don’t get to own (such as software for the auditory pro program). I send my kids for other classes such as art and all, the material is really used for each child’s lesson that day and the project they create is brought home by us. So paying $200 for material which we can’t own didn’t make much sense.

By the way I ended up paying for that VIP card because after assessment they said VIP rate for assessment is $120/hr but now I am hesitant due to the exorbitant costs and the fact that I don’t know for sure the program will be effective for my child. so unless you can afford the costs, please think twice to even send you kids there for assessment. They claim to be a social enterprise but based on the conversation so far, I wonder if they should just call themselves a for-profit commercial business.

[involvedparents]

Hi! I feel I have a social responsibility to share from my experience so that other parents may benefit and save themselves from similar arduous process.


My son was expelled from a branded preschool that markets itself aggressively. A couple of childcare centres including one in the POP scheme refused to accept him also, quoting lack of trained personnel like the preschool that expelled him. Then at KKH, we received the news that our child is diagnosed with Autism. KKH gave us a list of charity-based & voluntary welfare organisations-run EIPICS to go to and be on wait-list to enroll my son into a special school. My husband & I were devastated. I was crying buckets and heart broken…

We went to a charity-based EIPIC and the premises look beautiful and spacious with all kinds of equipment. I wish the intervention is as impressive as the hardware. The claim of including OT & SLT was doubtful if it happened as promised and I wonder if it is helpful to have 20-30 minutes of it once a week/fortnight. I didn’t like that many of them were volunteers or part-timers and it seems messy in the organization with high turnover. The staff, volunteers and intervention quality and effectiveness were very poor. My child was not improving even after 1.5 years.
As we are new to this whole early intervention thingy, we thought whatever KKH recommended should be right & good especially if it is a government/gahmen backed institution (stupid Singaporean mindset I have).

So when I was emotionally more adjusted, I googled for other EIPICS. Then I realized that there are private EIPICS. So silly of me right? KKH should have told us all our options and so we can choose and decide wisely. I hope the hospitals and doctors understand we have a right to be informed of our options.

I went to whatever intervention centres that were advertised or appear top on Google. I went to Dynamics, Leapfrogs, Cognitive Development Learning Centre, ABA, Kids for Kits and a few more OT & SLT. I do not want to spew too much negative talk but my view is that these I went are just not worth the money & time except that Leapfrogs is relatively the better one out of these. Their speech therapy is good and my child benefitted. But I think educational therapy isn’t their strength. Why I left is that the effectiveness seems to vary a lot, highly dependent on who teaches your kid. I think more sincerity will be better. The lack of understanding of our education system as they were many foreigners was not helpful towards the goals we want for our child.
Instinctively, I just feel the method and therapy were not most suitable for my son but I was desperate to do all I can, so I stayed on in these places for quite a while and some simultaneously.

One day I had courage to share with my colleagues about my child’s condition and the disappointing intervention I experienced both at charity-based and private EIPICs. One mummy shared that she sends her child to Bridge Learning and she was praising it non-stop. She was referred by her friend who was also referred by a relative. In her exact words, “Bridge Learning is the best early intervention centre to go to. You need to try.” I was of course skeptical.

I checked up on it at http://www.bridgelearning.com.sg and was happy with their approach and philosophy towards children with learning difficulties. It is in sync with what I think but I didn’t have the professional vocabulary to articulate it. It is very different from rest of those in Singapore or at least those I went to.

We went for the DDA assessment and we heard of things unheard of, unlike the past assessments. This is much more detailed, useful and understandable. We were taken aback that we were told for the first time that my child has hybrid difficulties. The Founder said that his combination of learning difficulties may manifest symptoms or characteristics that may look like ASD or it could be both Asperger and other lds existing together. We were told that he needs to be monitored to ascertain if he has Asperger only after some time of intervention on the hybrid lds. If the symptoms improve lots, it’d be good news.

We have paid between S$1300 to S$3500 for similar or psychological assessments. DDA assessment we paid for was only about S$120 as my child could not do many activities during the assessment and was out quickly in half hour and our consultation time was about another 30 mins.

I like that the DDA is pro-rated accordingly instead of a lump-sum, the charges and procedure were clearly told when I called up. They also have a written form stimulating the terms and procedure for us to sign before the assessment can start. Quite kiasu I thought. Most importantly, I think the depth of expertise, experience and ethics impressed us most.

Of course there wasn’t any immediate progress initially but 1 year later, we testify to the remarkable progress of the intervention. My son is never the same as before! He has established better eye contact, able to concentrate better, comprehends much more, learns so much faster and is so much confident and interested in learning now. His social skills are still weak but he definitely communicates much more and more socially aware now. It’s unbelievable to us that his Autistic characteristics have reduced significantly and meltdowns are rare and few now! We are simply elated.

They worked on his sensory motor integration through Neurogym, auditory processing, conceptual development, social-communication skills, visual processing etc.. and now is progressing towards the academic development to prepare him for mainstream school. He is now in both Bridge School Readiness Programme and Harvard Little now. The small group prepatory is really ideal for him who needs more individualized attention.

Yes, now we can see more hope and more readiness for him to go to mainstream school! But they told us he may need deferment. Need to monitor further. Deferment is definitely a better outcome than going to a special school because my child is cognitively fine. I thought it’d be a pity if he goes to special school. I've visited several and I really dislike it.

The IEI is truly tailor-made for each child as I’ve compared my IEI with other parents. The IEP I had at other places are all the same for all autistic kids. The attention to customizing to individual child’s needs and abilities were not as good for sure. And they have a really nice Neurogym which my son talks about a lot. They integrate their Neuroscience-based whole brain exercises as part of intervention. It’s one of those ingredients that makes it work, I guess.

When my child improves, he was able to join the small group programmes. Initially we wanted to put him in a group programme too besides IEI, but we were told that “it’d be waste of the child’s time and our money if you enrol him now.”

I really respect that they monitor my child closely and recommend programmes only based on his needs & development instead of just wanting to make money and make us join everything. He was in AuditoryPro and SocialArte and they were both about half the fees we paid for auditory training and group social skills intervention. We paid about S$20+ per session here while other intervention places are about S$50-S$80 per session.

I like that they have an effective method, structure, and intervention curriculum not based on the labels but on my child’s needs and brain architecture. I learnt it’s called Cross & Non-Categorical Approach whereby they look across linearly on child’s needs instead of trying to pigeonholing children under each label. This child-centric approach is very different from the typical Categorical Approach that dish out assessment scores and intervention based on a diagnostic label. It’s refreshing and more effective.

I’m truly surprised to read that they are expensive. I thought Bridge Learning fees are the lowest we have paid compared to the rest of private EIPICs who are charging about S$130+ to S$250 per hour for IEI. As we were not eligible for subsidies at the VWO EIPIC, we were paying the full fees and they are almost the same or slightly less or even more expensive than Bridge Learning. With the free money from government subsidies and donations at VWO EIPICs, my auditor husband thought they maybe making more profits than the private EIPICs. Hahaha…

We think value for money is more important than the cost itself. We are doubly happy that we are getting not only value but also paying lower fees than before. At first I was doubtful if it’s less effective, that’s why the fees are probably the lowest in the private sector and maybe lower than charities.

Besides the effective intervention results, the next thing we are most pleased with is the staff team. They are the most dedicated, loving, patient and passionate educators I’ve even seen. The whole environment has a kind of love, peace, faith and authenticity. They are highly experienced and many have worked there for many years. You can tell they really love kids.

In a workshop whereby The Founder was conducting, I learnt that they have a sound systematic system of training, hours of planning and case conferencing behind the scene. They have an intervention method, strategies and even an internal portal with videos on how to conduct intervention to boost. They also integrate Feuerstein Institute’s brain techniques into the IEI, who is their partner.

I thought it’s amazing that they have so many things going on for the children that we don’t know. And that’s why it can ensure the quality standards of intervention is similar through the years and across all the Early Intervention Specialists, through the training and sharing of expertise and combined experience. I saw on their FB page that the staff has at least 150-200 training hours annually.

I’ve personally met a parent whose son is on subsidized intervention as the family income is eligible for their social enterprise subsidies. This mummy even went on radio with them. She said she is grateful to Bridge Learning that her son who was diagnosed with ASD and intellectual impairment but is now scoring 90+ marks for his Math. They even send her some tonics when she had an operation. Her son has been there for many years and on subsidies since day 1. I understand from her that the subsidies is not from government but from their own revenue. I’m not sure about this part so if you need help, just approach them for help.

The only negative comment I’ve about Bridge Learning is that it does not spend money on advertising and marketing. If it does, our family would not need to go through unnecessary processes & ardous journey. It depends on referrals too much. If I do not know anyone who would recommend Bridge Learning to me, I’d have missed this place that creates a significant impact on my child and is fulfilling his potential.

That’s why I hope by sharing positive experience will do justice to them and help let parents learn about this place of hope and effective help. Even my husband said it’s money well-spent and is happy with our son’s progress.

We sent a hamper last Christmas as a gesture of appreciation and realized they received many hampers and gifts from other parents like me, who are very happy with their intervention and love for our children.

I pray my child will be well prepared for mainstream school and do better than what his diagnosis said. Keep believing & loving! All the best to your children too!