It was an easy pregnancy, much like her first. The only difference happened during the third trimester.

“He didn’t have so much movement in my tummy compared to Kristlyn, my first. I could feel he was quieter,” said Lina Tan, 44.

At birth, Baby Kristan cleared all the tests. Everything seemed fine until his wellness check at nine months at a polyclinic.

Until he missed a major milestone at nine months, Kristan (right) did not display any characteristics that made his parents suspect that something was amiss.

“The nurse said he was very slow. But we were still very chill because we didn’t think too much of it. We thought all babies are different. We never thought anything was wrong,” Lina told Salt&Light.

Kristan could not pull himself to a standing position as babies his age are usually able to do. So Lina and her husband Glenn, 46, were told to take Kristan to KKH Women’s and Children’s Hospital for further tests.

When Kristan was born, his older sister Kristlyn looked forward to playing catch with him. Their parents had to manage her expectations when Kristan was diagnosed with GDD.

Kristan was diagnosed with Global Development Delay (GDD) with hyperlaxity and hypotonia.

“Hyperlaxity means that his joints are more flexible than others. Hypotonia is low muscle tone,” Glenn explained.

“But God had been preparing us for this.”

A gift from God

When Glenn and Lina were trying for their first child, Glenn had prayed: “God, I don’t think I can handle a child with special needs. Please don’t give us a special needs kid.”

He had majored in Social Work and Psychology in university and had learnt all that could go wrong with a child.

Their first child Kristlyn was born in 2010, a healthy baby girl.

Kristlyn and Kristan have a three-year age gap.

Two years later, Lina was pregnant again. Glenn was a full-time youth worker at Grace Methodist Church at the time. He had just returned from a youth camp when Lina suffered a miscarriage five weeks into her pregnancy.

“I asked God, ‘Why?’ I think God primed me then,” said Glenn.

But the next month, Lina became pregnant again. This time, with Kristan.

Kristan could not walk till he was two and a half years old.

Said Glenn: “We were very sure that this child was a gift from God because of the prior situation. That’s why even through all the diagnosis, I never ever asked, ‘Why?’ I believe that God doesn’t make mistakes. Every child is a gift from God.”

Kristan, now 14, is very patient with her brother Kristan, now 11.

“I received a verse from God for each of my children. For Kristan, the verse was Joshua 1:9. That’s why his middle name is Josh, to be strong and courageous. It was almost a message for us as parents as well.”

“I was never sad”  

Kristan was about a year old when the Tans were offered DNA testing to discern the cause of his condition. They would discover that it was not hereditary at all. Instead, his condition was the result of a genetic mutation sometime during the 16^th and 20^th week of gestation.

“There was no cause. It just happened,” said Lina.

(Left to right) Lina, Kristan and helper Atun who has cared for Kristan for nearly a decade.

The official name of Kristan’s condition is Dias-Logan Syndrome. It is characterised by, among other things, developmental delay, intellectual disability and hypotonia with the possibility of growth delays and autism spectrum disorder. The syndrome is so rare that at the time Kristan was diagnosed, there were fewer than 10 cases in the world.

Kristan is a curious child who loves to explore his surroundings.

For the Tans, knowing what they were up against was important because it helped them plan the best intervention and care for their son. They started him on physiotherapy, occupational therapy, hydrotherapy and speech therapy. They were also on the lookout for other developments and were able to detect that Kristan was on the autism spectrum when he was three.

In his early years, Kristan had to undergo hydrotherapy to strengthen his muscles so he could walk.

Said Lina: “We realised that he doesn’t have good eye contact, doesn’t speak. So we suspected he has autism.”

Instead of sending him to a mainstream school, they enrolled him when he was 18 months old at Rainbow Centre which supports persons with disabilities. As the time approached for Kristan to register for primary school, they asked the psychologist for a letter so they could keep Kristan out of mainstream education.

“The psychologist said, ‘You are very different. Other people want a letter so their child can go to a mainstream school.’

“I thought there was no point sending him to a mainstream school. It is better for him to be at Rainbow Centre. And he is thriving there.”

The Tans chose to send Kristan to a special needs school because they believed he would be better cared for there.

Through it all, Lina was calm.

“When I conceived again with Kristan, I was really, really very happy. After he was diagnosed, I was never sad. I never sobbed. All  I wanted was to do whatever we could to help him.

“I learnt that there are a lot of things we cannot take for granted, like when (a child) can walk, can talk, when can he start to crawl, how many teeth will come out. His life is totally different.

Despite having to take Kristan to various check-ups and therapies each week, Lina never saw it as tiring or challenging.

“With Kristlyn, the development came naturally – at how many months she can walk and talk. With Kristan, we just had to pray and wait. It is only God who can help him.

“When he walked at two and a half years old, we took it as a bonus. God answered our prayers.”

Celebrate small successes 

Kristan is now 11. He is a happy and cheerful child who is loving towards others, especially the family’s domestic helper who has been caring for him since he was two.

Kristan is a happy, easy-going child who is not given to temper tantrums and meltdowns.

“I am very thankful. When I interact with other children with special needs, they can get frustrated when they can’t communicate and sometimes get violent.

“But Kristan has a mild disposition. He is warm and very friendly,” said Glenn.

Though he cannot read, Kristan enjoys flipping through the pages of books.

Although he remains non-verbal, he can indicate his needs.

Glenn added: “He gestures and he can tap on cards to indicate what he wants. He has found his own way to communicate.

“He will tap on the TV screen when he wants the video to be changed. Or he will pull you to things that he wants.

“What we have learnt to do is to celebrate small successes. He is precious to us and to God. He is a gift.

“Rather than focus on the have-nots and cannots, we celebrate small milestones. I still have a video of him walking, his first time climbing up the stairs.”

Helping churches to help

Because of his experience with Kristan, Glenn, who is now an Associate Pastor at Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church, champions the special needs cause in the Chinese Annual Conference (CAC) of The Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS).

Kristan now attends the Special Needs Sunday School at Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church where his father, Rev Glenn, is an Associate Pastor.

He is organising CAC’s first Special Needs Ministry Conference on May 31 to equip churches to explore disability inclusion.

Said Rev Glenn: “When we go to churches and share, we get queries on how to minister to children and youths with special needs. That’s why we are working with KIN (Koinonia Inclusion Network) to develop this ministry.”

Another area Rev Glenn hopes to explore through the conference is caregiver support.

“I was at a pastors’ retreat when the question was put to us, ‘What means of grace has enabled you to continue in ministry?’

“The Holy Spirit prompted me to give this answer, ‘Atun, our helper.’ She loves Kristan as her own. If not for Atun, we would not be able to do what we are doing now. Not every family has an Atun in their lives.”

The Tans with Atun (right) whom Rev Glenn considers a great blessing without whom he and his wife Lina would not have been able to work and serve in church.

Caring for those with special needs is a tiring and often lonely journey which can exert an immense toll on the caregiver, added Rev Glenn. The church needs to educate and equip its members to not just tolerate but provide pastoral care and respite care to caregivers.

Rev Glenn (right) has a great burden for the special needs ministry.

Rev Glenn and Lina are realistic about Kristan’s caregiving needs in the future.

“We don’t think he can take care of himself. He is likely to need a permanent caregiver with him all the time,” said Lina.

They have set aside funds for him to be cared for by others in the event that they are no longer around.

None of this has diminished their love for him or their faith in God.

The Tans have ensured that Kristan has enough resources for his care when they are no longer around.

Said Rev Glenn: “As I think back over the years with Kristan in our family, he is happy and thriving. I told God, ‘God, you placed Kristan in the right family.’

“He may not have the normal future that a parent would expect for his or her child, but we do believe that God has a plan for him.”

Special Needs Ministry Conference 2025 

The Special Needs Ministry Conference is a one-day event designed for the Church. This event provides a low-barrier, low-commitment opportunity to gain biblical, theological and practical insights into creating a disability-inclusive church.

Join this empowering conference to explore disability inclusion in church life and gain practical tools for integration. Sign up for a transformative journey of belonging and support.

Who should come

• Church leaders
• Those new to the idea of disability inclusion
• Those considering ways to integrate disability inclusion principles into the ministries

Keynote speaker

Rev Leow Wen Pin, Founding Chairman of KIN, brings deep theological and practical insight into disability ministry across Asia. His message will be a strong and meaningful contribution to the conference.

Date: May 31, 2025

Time: 9am-6pm

Venue: Bukit Panjang Methodist Church

Cost: S$50/pax

Click here to register

About the organisers:
The Chinese Annual Conference of the Methodist Church in Singapore is headed by a President and comprises four district conferences: District 1, District 2, District 3 and District 4, each headed by a District Superintendent. CAC has 17 local conferences with weekly worship services and ministries conducted in Mandarin/ English, five different dialects (Hokkien, Cantonese, Foochow, Hakka, Teochew), Bahasa Indonesia and Tamil.

The Koinonia Inclusion Network (KIN) was founded in 2019 as a non-profit society to build communities of believers through including people with disabilities. They enable Christian communities by providing training in disability ministry, research to produce resources for disability ministry and support for missions to and by people with disabilities. Their acronym, KIN, emphasises how all Christians belong together united in Christ as one family under God.

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