We welcome Shireen to our team this month. Shireen graduated from Curtin University with a MSc in Speech Pathology and she is a dedicated speech therapist who is passionate about working with children and their families. Having worked in a trans-disciplinary team (i.e. caregivers, teachers, occupational therapists, social workers, psychologists, etc.) in a social service organisation, she values and understands the importance of working closely with other stakeholders to support her client’s learning and growth. She has experience working with clients between the ages of 1 to 18 years, with ..read more

Thumbs Up Therapy are pleased to announce that they have welcomed new Senior Occupational Therapist Nur Smits, to the team. Nur is an experienced Occupational Therapist with over 16 years of experience working with children. She has worked closely with teachers in the schools, assessing the needs of the children and implementing interventions to support their learning at schools. On the individual level, she works with children and their families closely. She has experience in helping children with conditions such as Autism, Dyspraxia, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) / Attention Deficit Hype ..read more

Summer holidays are over, and it is back to the school routine! Starting school, or even settling back into to school routine can be stressful for children and their families because it requires following a set rigid routine. Here are some ideas that may reduce their stress and anxiety surrounding returning to school and can help make this transition manageable for you and your children. Start The Day With Regulation Activities Both adults and children feel calmer when they start with an activity that centres, or regulates, them. Each child has different sensory needs. Some children prefer to ..read more

Catherine Haugh joins us this month as our new Senior Speech and Language therapist. Our clientele is growing and we are excited to expand our team with Catherine's breadth of experience and therapy practice. Catherine has been living and working in Singapore since 2019. Her clinical experience spans Ireland and Singapore, working in clinic, pre-school/school settings, disability services and home environments. Catherine has developed clinical skills necessary for the holistic management of children and adolescents with a diverse range of communication and swallowing difficulties associated w ..read more

The results are in for the Expat Living Reader's Choice Awards 2023 and Thumbs Up Therapy has been voted the GOLD winner for Best Children's Therapy! We are very honoured to have been awarded by the Reader's Choice awards two years in a row and we are grateful and humbled by the support amongst the over 25,000 readers of Expat Living Singapore who casted their votes for their favourite businesses across multiple categories. Thank you everyone ..read more

Our company is growing every day and we’re thrilled to have Eunice Lim, our new Principal Occupational Therapist and Tina McIntyre, our new Senior Speech Therapist join us this week. Tina is a passionate and enthusiastic speech therapist who is devoted to helping children and their families. Her journey of working with children began as a Kindergarten teacher in her hometown of Miami, Florida, USA. The desire to explore the world and interact with other cultures led Tina to work at an international school in Shanghai, China, where she discovered her enthusiasm for speech therapy. The initial ..read more

We welcome Azealia to our team this month. Azealia is from United Kingdom, and graduated from City University London. As part of her training, she has worked in a variety of clinical and educational settings, which include; hospitals, community clinics, mainstream primary and secondary schools, and language units in the UK. Azealia is a bilingual Speech-Language Therapist who has been working in various private practices across Singapore and Dubai since 2014. Her experience includes assessing and providing therapy for children in individual and group settings with a variety of diagnoses and d ..read more

Some excellent tips for school teachers to help with designing Neurodiversity affirming rules and expectations at school! Everyone learns differently! Credit: Mrs SpeechieP & The Neurodivergent Teacher (link to article ..read more

“When children are deprived of child-led play experiences, they may struggle with higher-level thinking skills such as coming up with their own ideas, problem-solving, and other forms of creative expression.” Read more here ..read more

Summer is finally here! We hope that you are enjoying this well-deserved break and time with family. Here are some activities to try over the summer break; the best thing is that you can easily do them at home with the whole family! 1. Build an Obstacle Course Through the House  Spending time outdoors in nature is the best therapy! However, on days when it’s too hot to go outside, or if it is raining, indoor obstacle courses provide an opportunity for kids to develop gross motor skills and also offer a chance to improve positional awareness and planning movements. Use anything and e ..read more