Back to Where It Started: Our Founder's Talk on Grit and Resilience at CTSS

Written by Eugene Tng, QASP-S, Programme Director at ABA LABS

Our founder and Programme Director, Eugene Tng, recently returned to Clementi Town Secondary School (CTSS) to speak to students on this year's theme: grit and resilience.

For Eugene, it wasn't just another talk. CTSS is where he spent his secondary school years, and back then, very few people would have predicted he would one day come back to share his story from the front of the classroom.

The Results He Didn't Hide

Instead of opening with achievements, Eugene opened with his own report cards.

In Sec 3, he was 39th out of 40 in class, with 33% overall and 3 marks for Principles of Accounts. His teacher's comment that year noted that he only put in effort to cope with some of his subjects. At N levels, two subjects came back ungraded. His O level Design and Technology result was an F9.

The students went quiet when the slides came up. Then they started asking questions.

He chose to show the real documents on purpose. Many students sitting in that room were facing their own exams, their own doubts, and maybe their own results they weren't proud of. He wanted them to see that the person standing in front of them had been exactly where they were.

The Years in Between

Things didn't turn around overnight. After secondary school, Eugene enrolled in ITE and dropped out after three months. He went on to take a Diploma in Marketing, where he failed accounting twice before he finally passed. Then came National Service.

None of it looked like the start of a success story. But each setback taught him something about himself: what he cared about, how he learned best, and that failing a subject was not the same as failing at life.

After NS, he completed a double degree in Psychology and Marketing at Murdoch University.

Finding His Direction

The turning point came after his degree, during an internship at a special needs school as a Youth for Autism intern. Working with the children there, he found something he had never felt in a classroom: a clear sense of purpose. He knew this was the work he wanted to do.

He started his career in early intervention as a behavioural therapist and worked his way up, becoming the youngest in his organisation to be promoted from junior therapist to senior therapist to case manager. Along the way, he ran parent training and trained new therapists.

Then he took the biggest leap of all: starting ABA LABS from scratch. Today, ABA LABS is a home-based early intervention practice supporting children and families across Singapore. Eugene is also Singapore's first Qualified Autism Services Practitioner, and in 2025, ABA LABS was named Best in Home-Based Therapy and Developmental Support by Parents World.

The Message for the Students

Eugene's message to the students was simple: your results are a snapshot, not a sentence.

• A bad grade is information, not a verdict. It tells you where you are today, not who you will become.

• Direction often comes from trying things. Eugene didn't find his calling in a textbook. He found it by showing up somewhere new and paying attention to what mattered to him.

• Grit isn't about never failing. It's about showing up again after you do, and again after that.

Why This Matters to Us

At ABA LABS, we see grit every day. In the children who practise a new skill for the hundredth time before it finally clicks. In the parents who keep going through the hard weeks, even when progress feels slow.

Progress is rarely a straight line, for students or for the children we work with. Some skills take weeks, others take months. There are good days and setbacks. What makes the difference is a team that keeps believing in the child and keeps adjusting the plan until it works.

Eugene's own story shapes how we work. We don't write any child off based on where they are today. If you're wondering whether ABA is right for your child, we believe every child deserves a team that won't give up on them.

Thank You, CTSS

Thank you to CTSS for welcoming Eugene back, and for the kind plaque of appreciation. It was a meaningful moment to return to the school where it all started, this time to hopefully help another student believe that their story isn't over yet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the founder of ABA LABS?

ABA LABS was founded by Eugene Tng, its Programme Director. Eugene holds the QASP-S credential and is Singapore's first Qualified Autism Services Practitioner, with about seven years of applied experience in ABA and early intervention.

What did Eugene share at Clementi Town Secondary School?

Speaking on the school's theme of grit and resilience, Eugene showed students his own secondary school results, including an F9 and two ungraded N level subjects, and shared how he went on to find his purpose in early intervention. His message was that your results are a snapshot, not a sentence.

How can I build resilience in my child?

Break new skills into small, achievable steps, praise effort as well as success, and let your child practise things that are a little hard with support nearby. Children build resilience by experiencing that trying again works, so celebrate the attempts, not just the wins.

My child is progressing slowly. Does that mean therapy isn't working?

Not necessarily. Progress is rarely a straight line, and some skills take weeks while others take months. Ask your child's therapist to walk you through the data on each goal. A good team will adjust the plan when something isn't working, rather than waiting.

What does ABA LABS do?

ABA LABS is a Singapore practice providing home-based ABA therapy and early intervention for children with autism and developmental needs, along with parent training and school support. Get in touch with the ABA LABS Therapy Team to talk about your child.

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