Part 1 ... For several years, I knew that my daughter needed early intervention in her learning. I sought help from special language teachers, an educational psychologist and speech therapist. However, there were little breakthrough.

Mid 2009, I was referred to Steady Steps but I was hesitant . It was when my speech therapist commented that Nikki was a very experienced practitioner in a unique method known as Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) ,

that I decided to give it a try.

In every session, I was able to sit in and watch how MLE created a need-based system for my girl to engage in her task. The MLE sessions were very enlightening. An appetite for learning was building up within me and for my girl.

Nikki was patient, kind and gentle to my child and yet firm when the need arose. In some sessions, he imparted good values to my child for her character growth. I've learnt that meaning derived from learning builds motivation. My girl has since developed a greater awareness of the strategies that help in her learning.

I was well briefed of the program and its framework. Nikki was clear and passionate in explaining the rationale behind each assigned task for the child. My queries were also well answered. Hence, I felt empowered to do more beyond these sessions. We are still on this early intervention journey and I believe that these meaningful MLE sessions will yield optimal results for my girl's learning abilities.

Part 2 ... In the past 3 years of therapy, my daughter Elizabeth, has grown in her awareness of the factors that contribute to better learning. She is now more confident and motivated to take responsibility for her learning and behaviour. The person who is most transformed under MLE, however, is myself - the homeschool mum. It is a privilege to be under Nikki's "apprenticeship" by always observing his therapy sessions. Nikki would often point out the principles of mediation so that I can learn by his example. The result is that I, the parent, has also been transformed to be a more effective educator. I feel liberated from my old ways and can successfully move forward to lovingly nurture my children with these MLE techniques. MLE, is not for those who demand quick result that fades away. MLE is a powerful tool for those who would persevere and enjoy a lifetime of learning for both parent and child...

Nikki has the perseverance and motivation to help children develop their potential to their fullest. He is trained in using the mediated learning experience strategy

from several well researched tools.

His application of this strategy is commendable. He has worked very well within my research team for three years.

His background makes him a very established and knowledgeable service provider in his expertise area.

I have known Nikki for many years and have seen him worked tirelessly to help children with special needs as well as their caregivers to enable them to enjoy a

better quality of life and independence.

Nikki is an experienced trainer and practitioner who possess a strong depth of experience in this field having worked many years in the disability sector in Singapore.

Using the mediated learning experience, he has helped many children with learning difficulties and autism in their cognitive, social and emotional development. To support their growth and learning, he has also run support groups for caregivers to equip them with practical strategies, tools and tips so that they can better support their

children in their growing up years.

If you are looking for help for your child with learning difficulties, I strongly recommend you to consult Nikki.

Teacher Nikki has been most helpful to my son. We came to him for MLE and reading instruction. I loved the fact that he allowed me to sit in for lessons with him and gave me clear instructions how I could work with my son at home.

Teacher Nikki is very observant and helped me to become more aware of areas that my son stuggles with. This is something which none of the psychologists reports really showed since parents do not sit in during assessment.

He then gave many suggestions for addressing my son's challenges which really opened my eyes to the many strategies and therapies I could use to work with my son at home. I felt comfortable in sharing my struggles with him and he always had a non judgemental listening ear and enabled me to process my feelings and move forward with my son more positively.

My son Jon has a genetic health condition which we discovered when he was six years old. Aside from reading, spelling and learning difficulties, he also has gross and fine motor skill issues as well as issues with hand-eye-coordination.

As a trained teacher with a degree in Special Education, I worked with him to the best of my ability for 6 years but began to feel exhausted, frustrated and helpless. We were at that time also dealing with other associated health issues like allergies etc and for those, essential oils and supplements were all incorporated as well. There was just too many things that he needed help with and aside from helping him with his academic subjects, I needed something that could tie it all together. Yet I had no idea what that is.

I engaged Teacher Nikki to work with him and noticed that he was using Braingym and BAVX. To be honest, I am unfamiliar with those programs but as an educator, I understand that it would take time for programs to work and decided to just trust his expertise. Initially the improvements were not stark at first glance but are slow but sure.

When he started lessons with Nikki, he was reading but not very fluently nor willingly. He is now able to concentrate better, is able to sit down to read a classic independently and do his assigned work like research a topic and write it out. He has also started computer coding and we are hoping to develop his interest in it further.

Recently our family went on a cruise and to my utmost surprise, my now 16-year-old son is able to serve and return a volley even though he has never played a racquet game prior to that. I am impressed that his hand-eye coordination has improved tremendously. Some sports that require more co-ordination like swimming still remains a challenge but his ability to take on new tasks independently has continued to be a huge encouragement to me as a mother. I’m so grateful to have found a teacher with the expertise, passion and care.

Thank you Teacher Nikki!

Mrs Tan SJ

We have been doing ABA since Jason was 5 yo, for 1.5 years, and switch to VB for another 3 years, until we realized that we can't drill him for abstract concept. Teaching him to "get" the why and how is so hard with the VB method. Especially when he past Grade 3, there were so much of abstract, pragmatic, conceptual learning, that is harder to drill in. Then we went on board in search for other methods to help him, and we are grateful that we found the Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) approach.

After a brief discussion via email, we decided to fly into Singapore and booked his time for consultation. During consultation, Nikki took the time to present and explain MLE to us as this was the first time I came across it. (it's hard to find information and understanding about MLE online). It was an eye-opening moment for us, that we have done it the wrong way, we didn't teach my son the most important skill, the Thinking Skill. I came to learn that by giving him the ability to learn how to learn, eventually he will have the ability to learn anything that is presented to him. There are so much things in this world and we can't teach him all just by drilling and pouring facts and knowledge into his brain. We need to give him the mental tools for him to be able to learn on his own, by giving him the skills to think, to analyze, and to problem solve.

Thus, we started our journey with Nikki and from then onwards it has been 8 years ! Since we are living in Jakarta, we asked him to fly over. We organized a small group of parents that show interest in learning MLE and started our humble journey back then. With all training provided by Nikki (mind you, it won't be fast to grasp everything), it took me personally a few years to be able to "see the whole and parts" of MLE clearer, and it has helped me also in my personal dealing with people in my business. MLE taught me especially how best to present my business to others. It provides a framework for me to present the need (mediation of meaning), the purpose (mediation of intentionality) and the application (mediation of transcendence) in order for my clients to see how the parts and whole of my products would meet their need.  Though learning to apply MLE in my work, my clients and I can problem solve together.

The Jason today is a very different boy, we see that he has demonstrated to us the ability to analyze, search, and problem solve many things in his daily life. Jason plan his own schedule for his days, weeks and months. He is proactive to search for information that he is curious about , and he can reason and even attempts to persuade us to follow his plan. He seeks to understand the why and how (not everything in life of course as it's still a continuous learning path for him).

Once we went on a hiking trip, we had an enjoyable time exploring and observing the surrounding. Jason was able to demonstrate how he use his 'thinking tools' to express to me what he notices in a systematic and thoughtful manner. We discussed that day in our 'open classroom' geography, biology, math and art. What he has learnt in school can now be integrated into reality through the use of MLE !!!

We feel that we are on the right track with MLE as with continuous teaching of the thinking skills, I believe Jason will be empowered to think on his own, to learn on his own and problem solve things on his own. Isn't that what we need in life basically?

We are grateful to have Nikki on-board with us. In the past, we have engaged other so called MLE consultant before but they didn't have the same depth of understanding of MLE and they didn't train us to learn about MLE. We were told just to follow what they assigned to us. With Nikki, we learnt about MLE through step by step coaching, even though it's hard at time to grasp the theory. With our feedback, he would present and change the method from telling to showing to bring about clarity. Slowly and surely, through hands on projects, onsite coaching and partnering with him, MLE begins to take it roots not just in my mind but also in my heart. I wish more parents would come on board this journey. For me, it is all worthwhile.

Yuliana