In many Southeast Asian countries, developmental delays in children often go undetected due to the absence of a developmental screening regime. Shortages of specialist staff and a lack of systematic support leave uncertain parents without options and children at risk of exclusion and isolation. A Japanese startup is now working to address these issues and support Southeast Asia in nurturing each country’s greatest treasure—its children.
Early detection and intervention are key to addressing developmental delays in children. Tools developed by the Japanese company TOY EIGHT Holdings Inc. can simplify this process.
Developmental screening is a standard part of early pediatric care in Japan, but such regimes are exceedingly rare in Southeast Asia. Recognizing a virtually unexplored field and a vital unmet need, TOY EIGHT Holdings Inc., a Japanese company with offices in Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has launched a bold venture in the field of early childhood developmental screening in Southeast Asian markets. What spurred CEO ISHIBASHI Masaki into action was his own experience with this issue as a parent. “Developmental screening in Southeast Asia suffers from a lack of personnel and expertise,” he says. “We determined that digitalization was the only way to make screening readily available.”
After developing digital tools that “gamify” screening for children, TOY EIGHT launched its developmental screening service in March 2022. As of summer 2025, the service has been used with more than 10,000 children, and the tools are available in English, Malay, and Indonesian. The procedure is simple: a smartphone is placed on a folding stand, and children answer questions that appear on the screen in the form of a game. The target age range is three to five years. As the children play the game, their fine motor skills, speech, and cognition are analyzed and scored using AI. Unlike a visit to a doctor or nurse, the entire process feels like an extension of everyday play, so children do not grow anxious or nervous. This has resulted in a completion rate of over 95%.
The foldable phone stand was inspired by a free gift that came with a Japanese children’s magazine. The app uses audio and image recognition, while scoring is performed online.
“The child needs to engage with the tools for 20 minutes, so we recruited a former game developer from Japanese game company Nintendo Co., Ltd. to our development team and had them add more fun to the program. This was hugely effective,” says Ishibashi. The program is based on Japanese developmental screening, but to ensure that it reflects the children’s cultural background and lifestyle habits, researchers from Universiti Malaya and Sunway University, both in Kuala Lumpur, were brought into the project from its earliest stages to construct Southeast Asian models. Scoring weights and decision-making methods were overseen by Malaysian authorities on developmental pediatrics. The cost of a session is between 10% and 20% of what an examination by a medical specialist could cost.
The data collected from the screening serves as the basis for an early intervention program. Children found to have developmental delays during screening are provided with individualized care, education games, and online therapy they can engage with daily using the same digital tools. Due to the dearth of specialists, the waiting lists for examinations are long, but providing preschools with these tools and the training to use them allows teachers to handle everything from screening to intervention and therapy, which could eliminate waiting lists at one stroke.
“This potential to cover intervention and therapy, too, is a major selling point that has won praise from local governments, spurring adoption of the tools,” says Ishibashi. Public preschools in the states of Selangor and Sarawak use the tools already, along with some 300 private preschools.
The Malaysian government has released findings showing that around 27% of children entering elementary school need some help with literacy. But if improvements could be made through early interventions, more children could attend mainstream classes, and an inclusive educational environment would spread throughout society.
TOY EIGHT’s shopping mall location has a playground permanently staffed by specialists in childhood development. Not only do they offer screening using the company’s tools, but they also have consultation options for parents and guardians.
TOY EIGHT’s tools have been praised for their practicality, and the company received the grand prize at the One ASEAN Startup Award 2024, which recognizes the most innovative and successful startups in the ASEAN region. “We believe that the power of digital is the path to resolving issues in developmental screening and therapy,” says Ishibashi. “If this is a challenge shared across Southeast Asia, there is no reason not to make these tools more widely available.”
TOY EIGHT is already expanding into Indonesia and Singapore, and has plans for further expansion among ASEAN countries. Expectations are high for this Japanese company’s initiative to play an active role on the educational frontlines.
ISHIBASHI Masaki, CEO of TOY EIGHT. “Early detection and intervention can greatly improve outcomes for children with developmental delays,” he says.
