international Forum

Ms Anaberta Oehlers-Jaen started her career at the DAS in 2005 as an Educational Therapist and has since held various portfolios. For 4 years, she was the Preschool Manager of the DAS Preschool Service and was actively involved with children at risk of literacy delay and helped to launch the service at DAS. She assumed the position of Head of DAS International in 2011 in order to support both the local and expatriate international community of students, who may be experiencing learning differences through Specialist tutoring and Assessments. In her role as Maths Programme Director in 2014, Anaberta has presented at International conferences delivered in Singapore, ASEAN region and the UK.

George has over 20 years of experience teaching in international and UK schools. He also spent over two years working as an inclusive education advisor in Cambodia through Voluntary Service Overseas. He did a masters’ thesis on identifying and supporting dyslexic students in multilingual learning settings and has published research on supporting autistic students in mainstream education. He is now awaiting publication of a chapter that he has contributed to the Routledge International Handbook of Dyslexia on dyslexia in the Cambodian context at the request of DAS. He now lives in Phnom Penh with his wife and son where they have their own tuition centre, working with schools and individuals to promote inclusion in education.

• Harshi is the Founder and Principal of The Village International Education Centre. A highly respected Special Needs school in Thailand that has been supporting and developing children with special needs for over 20 years.

• A highly experienced and recognized educationist, Harshi has, over a career spanning 35 years, made significant contributions to the field of Special Needs in the UK and South East Asia.

• He has been instrumental in driving awareness of Neurodiversity through his approach which uses the child’s strengths to help them deal with their challenges. This positive, non-medical approach has been very successful as the students push themselves to rise to the higher expectations of their teachers and therapists.

• His unique approach to holistically educate the child and work closely with the family has been pioneering and has helped in the development of tailor-made programs for children with different special needs.

• Harshi, during his 25 years in Thailand has established strong working partnerships with International Schools in the region and local universities like Chulalongkorn & ABAC where is he also a guest lecturer.

• He has also forged a decade old partnership with the University of Northampton, UK to bring the MA degree in Special Needs to Asia along with best practices in the field of special education.

• Harshi loves to cook, play squash and teach and finds the first two relaxing & the other rewarding.

Jun is a middle school teacher at Binus School Simprug, Jakarta who originates from Singapore. She is the Subject Head for Individuals and Societies and has also been an Affective Head at the school for 3 years. She has been advocating for a more inclusive school environment at her school.

With 19 years of classroom teaching experience, Jun has met many families of third culture kids, as well as several students with neurodiverse profiles. She has networked with organisations and individuals to bring more awareness about neurodiversity and inclusive education. She has presented in the IB Dunia Workshops for international teachers on inclusion and diversity.

Married to an American teacher, her own three children have never lived in Singapore nor America. Two of her three kids have neurodiverse profiles. Having experienced the challenges of parenting third culture kids with learning difficulties, Jun is happy to share her own experience.

Jun is currently pursuing higher education in special and inclusive education in order to be a better advocate and support for her children and students. In her free time, she brings expat children together for drama classes as well as cooking and baking with her family.

Shilpa started her teaching career with a private preschool in Singapore, which catered to children of various nationalities. After her stint with the school for 5 years, she decided to equip herself with skills to help children with learning difficulties.

She trained in Orton-Gillingham Approach and later obtained the Double Diploma in Teaching and Dyslexia by Cambridge University conducted by DAS. Before joining DAS International in April 2013, she taught Literacy and Maths to students with multiple learning difficulties including dyslexia, dyscalculia, and ADHD for about 6 years as a private tutor.

Her students are from lower and upper primary up to upper secondary and come from a mix of MOE and International schools. Having a strong background and interest in Mathematics & English drives Shilpa to cultivate the love of the subjects in her students.

Her aim is to understand the strengths, weaknesses and learning styles of children, to design individualised programmes to help and motivate them to achieve their targets. Shilpa believes that it is important to build a strong rapport with students and create a conducive learning environment for the smooth delivery of knowledge.