How young is too young to join UpsideDowns?

Babies How young is too young to join UpsideDowns?

By Sarah Paterson-Hamlin, CEO (and dishwasher) of UpsideDowns Education Trust

The short answer is – you’re never too young! UpsideDowns funds speech and language therapy up to the age of 21, but we have no minimum limit on the age of our members. We’ve even had members come on board before they were even born, entering our records with the first name ‘TBC’! This is one of the most commonly asked questions we receive, and it’s really great to be able to tell people that they can apply at any stage of childhood or adolescence. Sometimes we have a waitlist as long as eight months for funding, so the sooner you can apply the better. At other times, you may only need to wait a few weeks or even days for funding to become available, but that’s ok too. It’s fairly common for members to receive funding and then to take some time to begin using it. We’re in no hurry – what matters is that your whānau know that when the time comes to begin with a private speech therapist, that funding is ready and waiting for you. Sometimes there’s a misconception that our funding is provided for one year only, or that once you reach your annual funding cap, you won’t be able to claim any more. However, once you become a member, as long as you continue to pay your $15 annual fee each March, we can help fund up to $2,200 of your child’s speech and language therapy every year until they turn 21 (unless you choose to resign first). It doesn’t matter if you’re 20 years old or 20 weeks old when you begin. Another hesitation we come across is the fear that you will be taking someone else’s place, or preventing someone else from receiving help with their speech therapy needs if you join our waitlist or membership. Once again, there’s nothing to worry about here. UpsideDowns has gone from 110 to 300 members in just four years, and we are happy to keep expanding. Our fundraising rises to meet the demand, and if you don’t apply, then we don’t know you’re out there wanting to engage with speech therapy. For example, if we have three families on the waitlist from the Canterbury area, we know we need to step up our requests to grantors or local councils in that part of Aotearoa. You may also be perfectly happy with the support you’re receiving from public entities such as the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Education. This is fantastic, and we certainly aren’t here to take away from what is publicly provided. However, we do understand that the reality is that these services are stretched. The Ministry of Health need to focus primarily on feeding needs, and generally aren’t able to provide much support in terms of early communication. In addition, they typically discharge patients with Down syndrome by the age of two. The Ministry of Education operates what they term the consultative model, and focus their limited resources on supporting teaching staff to incorporate speech pathology-based techniques into the classroom.

What UpsideDowns can provide is the opportunity to bring a private speech therapist into the equation. They can see your child one-on-one, with regularity and individualised programmes that can unleash even more of their awesome potential. Unfortunately, this is something the public system simply can’t provide most families. The vast majority of our therapists work in tandem with any public professionals involved at the time, who are generally aware that they aren’t able to fully meet the needs of their charges, and are often as thrilled as whānau to know a private therapist is able to be on board. So, even if you’re currently happy with the public speech therapy you’re receiving, consider signing up with UpsideDowns so that if this changes you have a good handover period to a private therapist, or so you can supplement what’s already being provided. To apply for UpsideDowns, simply head to our website and click the apply button. https://www.upsidedowns.co.nz/apply The form takes a couple of minutes to fill out, and it could make all the difference.

Leonardo Ayers-Val