1:1 Behaviour Support in Singapore

Support that starts with understanding

Individualised, evidence-based 1:1 support for children, teens and adults to build practical skills, manage everyday challenges, and participate more independently at home, in education, at work and in the community.

Every behaviour happens for a reason. A person may be struggling to communicate what they need, a task may feel too difficult, a transition may be overwhelming, or they may not yet have the skills to manage a particular situation.

At Tesserae, we look beyond the behaviour itself. We work to understand why something is happening, what skill or support may be missing, and what we can teach or change to make everyday life easier.

When everyday situations keep becoming difficult

People and families often come to us when a behaviour or everyday difficulty is beginning to affect learning, relationships, independence, safety, work or family life.

The concern does not have to be severe before it is worth understanding. Often, the question is simply: why does this keep happening, and what would help?

A diagnosis is not required.
Sometimes there is a diagnosis such as autism, ADHD or developmental delay. Sometimes there is not. Behaviour Support starts with the difficulty that is affecting everyday life.

Behaviour Support starts with understanding, not simply stopping behaviour

Behaviour Support is a structured way of understanding what is contributing to a behaviour and what skills, supports or environmental changes may help.

The same outward behaviour can happen for very different reasons. Someone who pushes work away or leaves a task may find it too difficult, may not know how to ask for help, or may have learnt that leaving is the most effective way to escape the demand. Those situations should not be treated in the same way.

We do not ask only:
“How do we stop this behaviour?”
We also ask:
Why is this happening? What is the person trying to achieve, avoid or communicate? What skill might be missing? What can we change around them?
Behaviour gives us information.
Our job is to understand what it is telling us, then help the person build more effective ways to navigate the same situation.

What can Behaviour Support help with?

Behaviour Support can cover several areas of everyday functioning. We use the person’s main area of need to decide where support should focus, and link those goals to the broader outcome areas used across Tesserae.

Learning, education & participation
Following instructions, task persistence, attention, study or work routines, asking for help and participating more independently in learning or structured activities.
School Readiness, Focus & Learning
Behaviour & emotional regulation
Strong reactions, aggression, refusal, flexibility, frustration tolerance, waiting, transitions and recovering when something goes wrong.
Behaviour & Emotional Regulation
Social skills & communication
Communicating needs, requesting help or space, navigating conflict, joining interactions and participating more successfully with peers.
Social Skills & Communication
Everyday independence
Morning and bedtime routines, self-care, mealtimes, homework, screen-time transitions and completing daily tasks with less adult prompting.
The categories can overlap.
A person may need support across more than one area. We use the Initial Consultation and early sessions to work out which goals should take priority rather than trying to work on everything at once.

Where can Behaviour Support happen?

Behaviour Support does not have to happen in one setting. The right environment depends on what we are working on, where the difficulty occurs, and where the skill ultimately needs to work.

At our centre
Our Joo Chiat centre provides a structured setting for 1:1 Behaviour Support, targeted teaching and practising new skills with fewer competing demands.
At school
Where the difficulty is affecting participation, routines, learning or independence in school, support may take place during the school day with the school’s approval.

Learn about In-School Behaviour Support →

At home
Home-based support can be useful when goals involve daily routines, self-care, mealtimes, transitions, independent living skills, family routines or behaviour that mainly occurs at home.
In the community
Where appropriate, skills can be practised in everyday community settings so they work beyond therapy and support greater independence, flexibility and generalisation.
The setting follows the goal.
We want skills to work with the people and in the places that matter in everyday life, not only during therapy.

Practice should look like real life, not only therapy

1:1 Behaviour Support is delivered at our centre in Joo Chiat or, where appropriate, in another environment.

What happens in a session depends on the goal. We may use structured teaching where helpful, but we also create opportunities through conversation, routines, learning activities, games and everyday situations.

Coping when plans change
A game or everyday activity can be used to practise waiting, losing, negotiating and recovering when things do not go as expected.
Building independence
Someone may practise a morning routine, self-care task, study sequence or other everyday routine while we gradually reduce prompting.
Participating in learning
We may practise asking for help, staying with a task or returning after a planned break instead of avoiding difficult work.
Communicating more effectively
Someone may be learning to request what they need, ask for space or communicate frustration before it escalates.

We want people to learn the skill, know when to use it, and eventually use it with less support.

Behaviour Support is based on need, not a diagnosis

1:1 Behaviour Support is based on the areas of everyday life where support is needed, rather than on a diagnosis alone. We work with children, teens and adults with autism, ADHD, developmental or learning differences, and social, emotional or behavioural difficulties.

A formal diagnosis is not required. If there is a clear concern affecting participation, regulation, learning, relationships or independence, we can explore whether Behaviour Support is appropriate.

Autism
Learning, regulation, communication, flexibility, participation or everyday independence.
ADHD
Follow-through, impulse control, routines, self-management or reducing reliance on prompts.
Developmental delay
Functional communication, learning readiness, participation, routines and practical independence.
No formal diagnosis
Specific behavioural, learning, regulation or independence difficulties can still be supported.

Where does ABA fit into Behaviour Support?

Tesserae’s Behaviour Support is grounded in behavioural science and Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). ABA helps us understand how behaviour and learning are affected by context, teach skills systematically, and measure whether change is working.

Behaviour Support describes the service and outcomes. ABA describes much of the clinical framework we use.

We begin with the person, not the methodology.
ABA informs how we understand and teach. It does not decide what a person’s goals should be.

Clinically led, data-informed, and designed to become less necessary

The same outward behaviour can happen for very different reasons. Effective support needs clinical judgement, clear goals and enough measurement to know whether the plan is actually working.

Our clinical team includes three Board Certified Behaviour Analysts, including a doctoral-level BCBA-D, who oversee assessment, programme design and review.

Our approach is individualised and designed to fade.
Goals are built around the person and where skills need to work. We use positive, assent-based strategies and deliberately reduce prompts and therapist involvement as independence grows.
How we track progress
Individualised Treatment Plans
Specific, targeted goals based on current skills and everyday priorities.
Rigorous Data Tracking
Data is collected throughout intervention to monitor progress and guide clinical decisions.
Session Notes
Every session is documented to maintain continuity and capture relevant observations and progress.
Progress Reports
Progress is reviewed against treatment goals so the person and, where relevant, families can see what has changed and what should happen next.
Measure → Review → Adapt
If progress is not happening as expected, we want to know early so we can understand why and change the plan.

Where appropriate, we also collaborate with parents, schools and other professionals involved in the person’s care.

What happens if we explore Behaviour Support with Tesserae?

You do not need to know exactly what type of support is needed before contacting us. We use the early steps to understand the concern and decide whether 1:1 Behaviour Support is likely to be useful.

Discovery Call

Tell us what you are seeing and what you would like to change. We will help you decide whether an Initial Consultation & Assessment would be useful.

2-Hour Initial Consultation & Assessment

We spend direct time with the person receiving support and, where relevant, speak with family members or caregivers to understand strengths, current difficulties and everyday priorities. Afterwards, we discuss our observations and recommended next steps.

Individualised Support

If ongoing support is appropriate, we build around a small number of meaningful goals and choose the setting and frequency that best fit the person’s needs.

Review, Fade & Transition

We review progress, help skills work across people and environments, and reduce therapist involvement as independence grows.

What do families usually ask?

No. Behaviour Support is based on the person’s individual needs rather than requiring a particular diagnosis. We support children, teens and adults with diagnosed developmental or learning differences, as well as people with a specific behavioural, regulation, learning or independence concern without a formal diagnosis.

No. Some people may display aggressive or unsafe behaviour. Others need support with everyday difficulties such as transitions, routines, flexibility, task completion, frustration, relationships or independence. What matters is whether the difficulty is meaningfully affecting everyday life.

Yes. Depending on the goal, support may take place at our centre, at home, in school with the school’s approval, or in community settings where the skill needs to work.

There is no standard frequency. Recommendations depend on the person’s goals, the level of support required, how often opportunities to practise occur and what other support is already in place. We review the level of support as progress is made.

Not sure whether 1:1 Behaviour Support is the right fit?

Book a complimentary Discovery Call with our team. We can talk through what is happening, whether 1:1 Behaviour Support is likely to fit, and what the most useful next step may be.