School had been quite a struggle for Christien Koh, 11, ever since he and his family came back to Singapore in 2007, after several years away. Says his homemaker mum, Denise Koh, “Getting adjusted to the Singapore school system wasn’t easy for Christien. He would get borderline grades for his subjects. As for Chinese, he would always fail.” Teachers commented that Christien was very quiet and not that attentive in class. He also had problems with comprehension.
It was very disheartening indeed. Recalled Mrs Koh, “We all knew that Christien was an intelligent child. Yet he didn’t do well in school, despite all the tuition and remedial lessons he went through. We were at our wits’ end actually.”
Fortunately, things changed for the better when Mrs Koh enrolled Christien with BrainFit Studio. “In September Christien started on SMART Listening, after a cognitive assessment at BrainFit showed this to be his weakest area,“ said Mrs Koh. “It has really helped him – he is more alert to his surroundings. For example, he’d be able to remember where we have parked the car – little details like the level and the lot section. Previously he couldn’t do this. He also started doing better with schoolwork, and showed more independence in completing homework.” Christien’s teachers also noticed that he was becoming more confident and responsive in class – a wonderful change indeed.
“The greatest change he experienced was the huge boost in his exam performance,” said Mrs Koh. “Not only did Christien improve significantly, he was given the “Best Effort” award for achieving more than 50% improvement in his overall results. That was really great! He also passed Chinese for the first time, achieving a fairly good grade.”
Christien is carrying on with the SMART Listening programme, and has also started on SMART Vision. He finds both programmes interesting and fun as well, especially the game and movement elements. Said Mrs Koh, “Christien has improved so much in his listening, visual and attention skills, which makes learning more efficient for him. I am really glad that the SMART programmes are helping him so well, when nothing else was effective. ”
Mrs. Denise Koh, mother of 11 year old Christien Koh
Calling all parents: We love hearing from happy parents whose children have benefited from our programs! Do you have any Success Story to share? Do send them to us, or call us at 6737- 3511!