Many families today are working hard to support children who are struggling emotionally, behaviourally, or developmentally. This includes a growing number of children with neurodiverse profiles — such as ADHD, autism, and twice-exceptional (2e) learners — whose needs may not always fit conventional approaches. Parents often receive excellent guidance from teachers, friends, and therapists, but translating those recommendations into everyday life at home can feel overwhelming.
Jennifer works directly with families to bridge that gap. Drawing on more than 26 years of experience supporting families around the world, she helps parents understand their child’s unique profile — whether neurotypical or neurodivergent — and build practical routines, communication systems, and family environments that work better for everyone.
Practical Help Is At Hand
Our Services
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Access our highly supportive, discreet service designed to help you address a wide range of parenting challenges. Through personalised, expert advice and ongoing support, we empower families to optimise those tricky childhood years. We combine compassionate listening, with structured strategies built on respect, responsiveness and boundaries. Have the freedom to seek guidance on a very broad range of topics, including:
Social and Emotional Development
Early Years Education
Academic Engagement
Gifted and 2E Learners
ADHD support
Healthy Boundaries
Transitions (moving school or country)
Life Skills
Sibling Relationships
Routines
Behaviour Challenges
Weaning & Toilet Training
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A home observation or intervention from an experienced parenting consultant provides practical, personalised support where family life actually happens. Instead of relying on general advice, the consultant can understand your child and family dynamics within the real environment where routines, behaviours, and challenges occur.
1. Support in Your Child’s Natural Environment
Observing children at home allows the consultant to see how they behave in familiar surroundings. This gives a clearer picture of routines, triggers, and interactions than can be captured in a clinic or office setting.
2. Tailored Strategies for Real-Life Situations
Every home has its own routines, layout, and family dynamics. A home-based consultation allows the consultant to recommend strategies that fit naturally into your existing environment, making them easier to implement and sustain.
3. Immediate Practical Guidance
During a home visit, the consultant can demonstrate techniques and support parents in real time. This might include guidance around routines, transitions, behaviour management, or communication strategies.
4. Identifying Environmental Factors
Sometimes small changes in the home environment—such as adjusting routines, modifying spaces, or introducing visual supports—can make a big difference. An experienced consultant can spot these opportunities quickly.
5. Building Parent Confidence
Many parents benefit from reassurance that they are on the right track. A supportive observation provides constructive feedback, helping parents feel more confident in their approach.
6. Collaborative Problem Solving
Home visits create an opportunity for open discussion about specific challenges. Together, parents and the consultant can explore practical solutions that respect the family’s values, routines, and parenting style.
7. Sustainable Long-Term Improvements
Because recommendations are developed within the context of the family’s daily life, they are more likely to be realistic, sustainable, and effective over time.
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What the Assessment May Include
Initial Consultation
An in-depth conversation to understand your family’s concerns, priorities, and goals. This allows space to explore current challenges, family dynamics, parenting approaches, and the wider context of your child’s life.
Home Observation (where appropriate)
Observing everyday interactions within the home environment often reveals patterns that may not appear in other settings. This might include routines, transitions, communication styles, and responses to challenging situations.
Understanding the Family Dynamic
The assessment considers the role of each family member, how expectations are communicated, and how family routines influence behaviour and wellbeing. Siblings, parental roles, and household structures are all taken into account.
Identifying Strengths as Well as Challenges
Alongside areas that may require change, the assessment highlights the existing strengths within the family. These are often the most powerful foundations for meaningful progress.
Environmental and Routine Review
Practical elements of the home environment and daily structure are considered. Small adjustments to routines, spaces, or expectations can sometimes lead to significant improvements.
A Bespoke and Flexible Process
No two families are the same. Each assessment is designed around your particular circumstances, priorities, and family structure. The process is flexible, responsive, and tailored, ensuring recommendations are realistic and suited to everyday family life.
A Clear Report and Roadmap
Following the assessment, you will receive a comprehensive written report that brings together key observations and insights. This document provides:
A clear summary of family dynamics and patterns identified
Practical recommendations tailored to your household
Priority areas for change
A structured roadmap for moving forward
Options for Ongoing Guidance
Families vary in the level of input they would like after the assessment. The report outlines different pathways moving forward, which may include:
Short-term or intermediate consultation sessions to help implement changes
Longer-term involvement for families navigating more complex challenges
Periodic reviews to refine strategies as circumstances evolve.
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Parent-Away Care
A Weekend (or longer) with a highly experienced and qualified professional for your children, while you’re away.
When life takes you out of town, Parent-Away Care ensures your children aren’t simply being watched — they’re being nurtured, inspired, and enriched.
Access the luxury of highly trained governess care.
While you travel, your child is entrusted to a carefully selected, professionally trained governess—experienced in child development, education, and refined caregiving. Each governess provides a warm, structured, and enriching environment tailored to your child’s age, personality, and interests.
Rather than idle time or screens, your child’s days are thoughtfully curated to inspire curiosity, creativity, and confidence. Every activity is intentional, balancing learning with joy in a way that feels natural and engaging.
Your child might spend the weekend:
Exploring hands-on science experiments or creative projects
Visiting museums, parks, or cultural spaces
Enjoying storytelling, music, and imaginative play
Practicing life skills, independence, and confidence
Engaging in guided learning that sparks curiosity
Under the attentive care of a trained governess, every moment is designed to feel like an adventure—not supervision.
Parents travel with complete peace of mind, knowing their child is not only safe and well cared for, but is also benefiting from a nurturing, elevated standard of care rooted in expertise and intention.
Parent-Away Care transforms time apart into meaningful growth.
Because when you return home, your child won’t just say, “I missed you.”
They’ll also say,
“Guess what we did this weekend!” ✨
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When an unexpected situation arises—such as a sudden illness, a parent needing to be away, or another unforeseen circumstance—families may need immediate, short-term support at home. Urgent care services are designed to respond quickly, helping ensure that children continue to feel safe, supported, and cared for during a temporary disruption.
Urgent care typically begins with a rapid consultation to understand the family’s situation, the child’s needs, and the type of support required. This may include behavioural support, supervision, assistance with daily routines, or helping a child manage anxiety or changes in routine while a parent or caregiver is unavailable.
Depending on the circumstances, support can be provided in the home for a limited period—such as a few hours, overnight, or several days—until the family is able to resume normal routines or longer-term arrangements are made. The goal is to provide calm, reliable assistance that maintains stability for the child and reduces stress for the family during a difficult moment.
Urgent care services also prioritise communication with parents, guardians, and any relevant professionals so that the child’s usual supports—such as school, therapy, or existing care plans—remain consistent wherever possible.
By offering responsive, practical help when families need it most, urgent care can bridge short gaps in caregiving and ensure children continue to receive safe, compassionate support at home.
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Today’s workforce includes a growing number of employees balancing demanding careers with the realities of parenthood. Our corporate parent workshops equip organisations with practical, evidence-based strategies to support working parents — improving wellbeing, engagement, and retention.
Through facilitated sessions, parents gain tools to manage stress, communicate effectively with their children, and navigate common challenges such as transitions, screen use, and emotional regulation. At the same time, organisations benefit from a more focused, resilient, and supported workforce.
Our programmes are designed for Singapore-based teams and can be customised for different parenting stages and challenges.
Community Guidance & Support
Parenting Seminars
Attend seminars presented by Jennifer and a variety of leading experts to learn more about today’s greatest parenting challenges.
Academic Support & Study Skills
Resilience
Emotional Regulation
Parent Health & Wellbeing
Executive Function Home Based Skills
ADHD
Autism
Learning Differences
Screen Management
Schooling Options
Parenting Styles
Third Culture Children
Expat Parenting Challenges
Caregiver Courses
This bespoke training programme is designed for helpers and caregivers working with children and families in Singapore. The course aims to build understanding, practical skills, and confidence when caring for children who may experience ADHD, autism, behavioural challenges, or other developmental differences.
Delivered in a calm, respectful learning environment, the programme combines knowledge, discussion, and practical strategies that can be applied in everyday caregiving situations. Alongside child-focused learning, the course also encourages healthy communication, emotional awareness, and personal wellbeing, recognising the important role caregivers play within the household.
The training is structured over five days, allowing time to explore each topic thoughtfully and to practise new approaches.
Appropriate Expectations
Respectful Language
Positive Discipline
Routines
Healthy Habits
Independence Skills
Communication
Neurodiversity
Schedule your Free 1-1 Introductory Chat
Who is Jennifer Costigan?
With more than 26 years of experience working closely with families around the world, Jennifer is a family systems consultant who helps parents navigate the complexities of raising children in today’s fast-changing world.
Her work focuses on supporting families whose children are experiencing behavioural, emotional or developmental challenges, helping parents create home environments where children can thrive socially, emotionally and academically.
Jennifer’s career has taken her inside family homes across multiple countries and cultures. Beginning as a trained maternity nurse, nanny and governess, she developed a deep, practical understanding of family life and child development from the earliest years through adolescence. This unusually hands-on background, combined with a master’s degree and decades of professional experience, gives her a rare ability to understand the real dynamics of daily family life and the pressures parents face.
Now based in Singapore for over a decade, Jennifer works with both local and internationally mobile families, many of whom are navigating complex developmental profiles, behavioural challenges, or the demands of highly competitive school environments.
A central part of Jennifer’s work involves helping families bridge the gap between professional recommendations and everyday life. She frequently collaborates with psychologists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, doctors and school teams, supporting parents in translating therapeutic strategies into routines and communication patterns that work within the home.
Jennifer has particular experience supporting children who are neurodivergent, including those with ADHD, autism and twice-exceptional learning profiles, as well as families navigating emotional regulation challenges, school transitions and major family changes.
Her approach is holistic and practical. She works with parents to understand the full system around their child, often beginning with the foundations of family life—sleep, nutrition, routines and communication—before helping parents build strategies that support both the child’s development and the wellbeing of the whole family.
Jennifer is known for her calm, thoughtful approach and her ability to bring clarity to complex situations. By helping parents step back, understand their child’s needs and implement realistic strategies at home, she supports families in creating lasting, positive change.
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Useful Definitions
Neurodiversity
A concept that recognises and values the natural differences in how people think, learn, and process the world. It includes profiles such as ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and others — viewing these differences as variations, not deficits.
2E (Twice-Exceptional)
Refers to individuals who are both highly able (gifted) and have a learning, developmental, or attention difference such as ADHD, autism, or dyslexia. These individuals often have significant strengths alongside specific challenges, and may need support that recognises both.
Autism
A neurodevelopmental difference that influences how a person experiences communication, social interaction, and the world around them. Autistic individuals may have unique ways of thinking, learning, and processing sensory information, along with deep interests and strong attention to detail.
ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder)
A neurodevelopmental difference that affects attention, impulse control, and activity levels. Individuals with ADHD may find it harder to focus, stay organised, or regulate energy — but often also show strengths such as creativity, curiosity, and high energy.
School Shadow (Behaviour Support)
A school shadow is a trained adult who works alongside a child in the classroom to provide short-term, targeted support for behavioural, emotional, or learning challenges. Their role is to help the child stay engaged, manage routines, and develop skills such as self-regulation, communication, and independence. School shadows typically provide temporary interventions, working closely with teachers and families to implement consistent strategies. The goal is to build the child’s confidence and skills so that support can be gradually reduced over time.
Parent Away Care (Proxy-Parenting) is when a professional caregiver takes on a parent's duties while the actual parents are away, ensuring children's needs are met through comprehensive, 24-hour care.
Governess
A governess is a trained educator who works closely with a family to support a child’s learning, development, and daily routines within the home. Unlike a tutor who focuses only on academic subjects, a governess takes a more holistic approach — helping children build good study habits, social skills, independence, and confidence. Governesses often work in partnership with parents and schools, providing personalised guidance that fits the child’s needs and the family’s values. Their role can include supporting schoolwork, guiding behaviour, and helping establish structure and routines at home.
Maternity Nurse
A maternity nurse is a trained professional who supports families in the early weeks or months after a baby is born. They provide hands-on guidance with newborn care, including feeding, sleep routines, settling techniques, and establishing healthy daily rhythms. As well as caring for the baby, a maternity nurse supports parents — helping them build confidence, understand their newborn’s needs, and adjust to life with a new baby. Their role is typically short-term and focused on creating a calm, well-supported start for both baby and family.