| Watch
your kids grow — online! |
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Sam,
an intelligent, cheery dinosaur,
represents KGOL’s determination
to meet each child’s development
needs with a pleasant and
positive attitude. |
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Do you know
that the world’s first online programme to
monitor and track the development of babies and
children was born right here in Singapore?
KidzGrow Online (KGOL) was conceived from an idea
to create a simple yet effective tool to support
parents throughout their child’s development
from 3 months to 6 years.
The online system at www.kidzgrow.com.sg
was developed by a team of child development professionals
and IT specialists from KidzGrow Pte Ltd and TherapyWorks
Pte Ltd.
The child development content was reviewed by the
Child Development Unit of KK Women’s and Children’s
Hospital. The project was successfully trial tested
with support from The Enterprise Challenge (TEC)
and the piloting agency, the Ministry of Community
Development and Sports (MCDS).
MCDS supported the project because KGOL had the
potential to deliver convenient and affordable services
to guide parents in the holistic development of
their children. KGOL also helps to identify children
with possible special learning needs early and direct
them to professional assistance to effect early
intervention.
In addition, KidzGrow’s infrastructure may
benefit other public agencies as it can be used
to facilitate the gathering of data on child development
in Singapore over the medium to long term for analysis
and policy planning purposes.
Results of the KGOL trial have shown that parents
have benefited from watching their little ones blossom
day by day through the KGOL programme. After using
KGOL for a period of three months, a notable number
of participants felt that their knowledge in caring
for their children had significantly improved and
they had greater confidence in their parenting role.
Others also shared that they felt more empowered
to be successful parents.
Ms Jeannie Lau, who subscribed to KGOL during the
pilot phase, was one such parent. While working
on various activities with her 4-year-old son, Wei
Qi, she noticed he was performing extremely well
in all the tasks for his age. Jeannie sought professional
advice from a child development therapist who assessed
him and found that his performance was indeed advanced
as reflected in KGOL. Suggestions were made to help
Jeannie nurture Wei Qi’s potential.
MCDS gained an enriching experience from collaborating
with TEC and the KGOL team. The generous sharing
of resources, ideas, knowledge and expertise contributed
towards the successful trial.
By providing a testbed for an innovative idea from
the private sector, MCDS has realised its dream
of creating an individualised tracking programme
to empower parents and hence enhanced its role as
a forerunner in Family Life Education.
The opportunity to trial test their innovative idea
has made it possible for the KGOL team to dream
bigger dreams on how to expand the potential of
the project.
Ideas in the pipeline include using KGOL to complement
existing developmental screening processes used
to aid the early detection of children with special
developmental needs.
Upon gaining profitability, the KGOL team will donate
10% of the project’s annual operating income
to the Government to fund further research and support
activities in child development. |
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| By MCDS |
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