Thank you for visiting my page to raise funds for Down's South London, a small charity providing specialist speech and language services to children with Down's Syndrome who live in South London, as well as support and resources for those children's parents and families.  I was introduced to this charity by my wonderful godson, Ruaridh Aylwin who has greatly benefited from their speech and language services to children with Down's Syndrome.

DSL is based in Peckham, survives entirely on donations made by the likes of you and provides its services to its members for free. 

Forgetting the general lack of speech and language therapy available to most children through the NHS, there is no other organisation in the country that provides this type of therapy. With speech and the ability to communicate being the single greatest determinator in how children with Down's Syndrome integrate into society, DSL is a critical service for all members. DSL welcomes with infants from as young as only a few weeks old through to the age of seven. 

Just to give you a bit of insight as to what any donation you make would be spent on..... 

1.   We are looking hire an additional speech and language therapist from 1 January 2010. The planned cost (salary, taxes, treatment location hire, resources production, etc) is £63,500 over and above the £80,000 or so we have raised in each of the last couple of years. The new therapist will allow us to extend the age range of children receiving speech therapy from the current 0-7 years old up to 13 or older.

2.   Any money you are able to donate will be invested in the following areas:

£20            covers the cost of a child to attend a group party with the other members of the group - social exclusion is an all too regular affair

£50            provides a child with an hour of specialist group therapy

£90            provides a child with an access pack to fully support their therapy full of fun and education resources specifically created for children with Down's Syndrome

£150          provides a weeks therapy for a group (1 x 1hr session for 3 children)

£250          pays for a specialist report, crucial in supporting our therapy when applying for Statementing

£500          gives one child a full term of therapy

£750          funds an annual party where the children are able to spend unstructured playtime together with their peers

£900          provides 10 children with access packs used to support therapy sessions in a home setting

£1400        covers the cost of a group's therapy for a term (3 children)

£1500        funds specialist Oromotor Tools for the group for an entire year

£4000        provides specialist therapy for 3 specifically grouped children for a whole year