Our History
Hello! Thank you for looking up our history! It has been a wonderful journey for us! We brought back the sophisticated system, the comprehensive model, and the high standard from Canada. We are so glad you are here to find out more about it!
The seed of Kids Connect was planted while Emily was leading and supervising a clinical team that ultimately earned its reputation and recognition as the highest ranking clinical teams amongst 25 representing teams serving over hundreds of children in Toronto! Throughout years of multiple accreditations from various accreditators, the team she led always earned the leading position.
In 2010, Emily returned to Hong Kong and established various services for families and children. We started from home - based service, to shared space, and now having our own space from one location to two sites! With our growth mindset, we are definitely growing as years go!
2021 - Kids Connect was awarded the Award of The Best Special Education School of the Year by Hong Kong Living.
We are so earnestly grateful to win this award against some very strong nominees!
We feel humbled to win this award against all the other strong nominees after a period of intensive judging by an independent panel of education experts, academics, and consultants. The panel was looking for a balanced programme that adapts to the individual student needs and includes a range of innovative learning opportunities. The judging criteria include a balanced weight of Academic Performance, Vision, People & Ethos and Student Experience.
It is a wonderful testament to the exceptional quality of the KC programs and the clinical team. It is amazing to know that our excellence is being seen and heard, and recognized by those who are beyond our closest families and community!
2019 - Sharing in Conference for Research in Early Childhood Education, EdUHK
Our clinical team was honoured to be invited to share in the Conference for Research in Early Childhood Education organised by The Educational University of Hong Kong.
We introduced the workflow of the ABA clinical activities and presented a case study of a 5-year-old boy who attended our tailor made program for 2.5 years. From one-on-one ABA sessions to social thinking learning in a large group, he had made a significant progress with our clinical support. We also shared one of the Social Thinking curriculum - the Size of the Problem, which brought a lot of fun for the discussion.
The conference was a great success and the clinical team enjoyed sharing our expertise with others, as well as learning from other professions.
2018 - Social Thinking Clinical Training in Santa Clara, US
"Teaching Social Competencies - More than Social Skills" is a core concept of the Social Thinking. For an individual to develop his or her social competencies, it requires the underlying foundations of social interest, self awareness, social awareness, self regulation, theory of mind, central coherence, and rich communication skills. These foundations constitutes the social thinking skills for all of us to navigate in the social world.
2017 - Kids Connect 2 (Kampus) Opened
We are so excited about our expansion! We meticulously design every single corner to best facilitate our target skills! At the Kampus, the children have the unique benefits of receiving their tailor - made curriculum via one on one setting and the classroom settings. The set - up allows an easy transitions from one setting to another, facilitating the development of classroom, social and group skills yet able to attend to other skills that would be most efficiently developed via one on one teaching.
2016 - The Team in Hong Kong
We were so grateful to have our team photos taken by professional photographer!
2015 - Kids Connect 1 (Klubhouse) Opened
With the rapidly growing programs and children that we have, we moved to a much bigger space. We also changed our company name. The new name is a much better reflection of our strong focus on making connections around the child!
2013 - Expanded LEGO x Social Skills Program in China
We provided professional training to the staff from LEGO education in China. The staff who attended came from their Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen offices and we had 3 days of intensive training!
2012 - Developed LEGO x Social Skills Program in Hong Kong
We shared the space and partnered with the LEGO Education Centre in Hong Kong, which was extremely exciting to us! Who doesn't love LEGO? With LEGO being consistently rated as one of the most popular toys amongst children (and even adults!), this collaboration inspired us to develop many popular programs through the use of LEGO materials.
Our children used LEGO to develop their collaborative and team work skills, communication skills, creativity, presentation skills and many more! We always love LEGO!
2011 - Started Home Based Program in HK
We started the home - based program and many of our children are big boys and girls now!
2003 to 2011 - Excellent Program in Toronto
Emily accumulated so many years of work experience in Toronto and she was determined to bring it back to Hong Kong!