Connect 16

2023 at The Champion Centre began with much excitement and anticipation as staff and families reconnected after the long summer break. It’s been a busy and fruitful term. We’ve welcomed new families, we’ve waved children off to school, and we’ve continued to join whānau to support them and their children’s development.

In this edition of Connect we have a number of items of interest to celebrate and share with you:

We are keen to shine the light on one of our new offerings at The Champion Centre - Lego Therapy. We are now running Lego Therapy groups each term for small numbers of children who will benefit. You can read more about this new development and its impact here.

We thank Lu, who generously shares her personal ‘story’ and her thoughts and feelings about coming to The Champion Centre with her son Alfie. 

​And we are continually grateful to all of our supporters. As a not-for-profit organisation, while we receive government support, we still need to raise over $600,000 per year to ensure we can provide the full range of services to families who need them. We meet this challenge by applying for grants, and through the generosity of a range of supporters and donors. One of our supporters is Matt Rose who is walking from the top of the South Island to the bottom to raise money for a range of charities including The Champion Foundation Trust. You can read more about Matt’s trip in this edition of Connect. 

​If you or someone you know has a fundraising idea or would like to donate to The Champion Centre, please contact Tracey Horsham on funding@championcentre.org.nz. Tracey would love to hear from you.

Happy reading!

​Lauren and Wendy

CENTRE HAPPENINGS

Lego Therapy

​What is Lego Therapy?

Our aim at The Champion Centre is to ensure that our services meet the needs of

the tamariki and whānau who join us, and that they are evidence based and aligned with best practice. Along with our core offerings, we have recently introduced an addition to our services, to meet the needs of a small number of children. It's a Lego Therapy Group!

Lego Therapy is a group based social skills intervention designed specifically for children with social communication difficulties. It can be intrinsically motivating because it draws on children’s interests to promote the development of social, communication and play skills. In Lego Therapy, children work together to build Lego models in pairs or small groups, with the task divided into different roles.  The division of labour with a common purpose allows children to practice joint attention, turn-taking, sharing, joint problem solving, listening and general social communication skills.

By establishing clear job roles, Lego Therapy ensures the involvement of all children in the targeted outcome of building the Lego model. This is combined with peer instruction and peer modelling which are key features of social skills interventions. Peer mediated interventions have been highlighted as a potentially versatile and effective intervention approach for individuals with social communication challenges across social, communicative and academic outcomes. Lego Therapy has a good evidence base and research* has concluded that peer mediated interventions were highly effective at promoting social interactions in young children with these specific needs.

Lego Therapy at The Champion Centre

Late last year we trialled a 5-session block of a Lego Therapy Group for 4 children currently enrolled in the service. Children were identified by teams, based on their needs and the match with therapy goals. Sessions were team-led by one of our Speech Language Therapists, Chloe and  supported by our Clinical Director, Lauren. They began with attention building activities, for example 'bucket time' where a 'mystery' object is slowly revealed from a bucket (creating attention and anticipation), before moving into a Lego Therapy session and a free play Lego session.

During the Lego Therapy component, children began by building a mini figure of their choosing. After they completed their mini figure build, they took turns giving each other comments about something they liked in the other’s figure. Once concluded, the children participated in a group build. The object to be built was pre-chosen by Chloe, who also handed out the roles for the week (Builder, Supplier, Engineer). Once the group build was complete, the children moved into Free Play. In the Free Play component, we had a big box of Lego bricks spread out on the floor and children we able to build anything of their choosing. They were supported by Lauren and Chloe when necessary; adults also engaged in interactive Lego play with the children, fostering group interaction, shared imagination, and connection.

A parent/caregiver attended each week with their child. Parents were encouraged to be wherever they thought was best. In some cases, a child required parental presence throughout. In other cases, children were settled and engaged without parental presence and those parents typically took some time to connect with one another outside of the group.  Sessions lasted approximately one hour.

LU AND ALFIE'S STORY

Alfie’s mum Lu describes him as an absolute delight, and each time he visits The Champion Centre he delights staff too, with his incredible grin followed by his infectious laugh.

When Alfie was born, Lu knew something wasn’t quite right but despite seeing a multitude of doctors and specialists, including their GP who was very attentive, it really was a case of having to ‘wait and see’ how Alfie’s development would progress.  He avoided making eye contact, wasn’t tracking people or interacting with toys and really hated noises. At 5 months old, Alfie started having infantile spasms. After numerous hospital visits including an MRI to check for a brain bleed or tumor, as well as 5 weeks of treatment on steroids for the spasms, a genetic study finally gave some answers - Lu was told Alfie had a very rare genetic disorder called ‘FOXG1 syndrome’. Lu vividly remembers being told of the diagnosis on the last day of FOXG1 awareness month, so she hoped this was a sign she would begin to be able to find some solutions and gain support as she tried to process what this would mean for her and Alfie’s future.

Lu was invited to choose an early intervention programme for Alfie, and not really knowing which to choose, opted for The Champion Centre because a friend had worked there and being a service based in the Centre, Lu hoped she would be able to meet other parents in a similar situation and feel less isolated. Her first introduction to the Centre was a visit from Social Worker, Marguerite, and Lu described how “for the first time ever I felt really heard, by someone who understood, cared and wanted to help”. 

Lu described how after a few months attending the programme, she started to see the

changes and progress Alfie was making with the help of his therapists. She also began to feel like she was surrounded by support and by joining The Champion Centre Facebook group for parents it enabled her to connect with the other families within the Centre in the time between programmes, which was a significantly positive turning point. Members of this group regularly meet up and connect virtually to discuss the challenges of parenting a child with additional needs, without any judgment or bias. While Lu can’t imagine life without Alfie and the joy he brings to her world, it can be exhausting and heart-breaking raising a child with disabilities.  Other whānau at the Centre understand that “this is not the life you envision as a parent” and agree with Lu that “it can be difficult”.

The Champion Centre has been a huge supporter of Lu’s goals for Alfie, and the specialists are always available to listen to her concerns.  If they are having an off day, the family support team are quick to make her a coffee and provide a listening ear. The therapists are always flexible with Alfie’s needs and if he requires more assistance in a particular programme that day, they adapt to best support Lu and Alfie. The specialists guided Lu with additional notes and resources to help her make progress with Alfie at home, and she loves the variety of the programmes we offer that are unique to the Centre.

Alfie is due to progress from “babies” to “middle years” and it is a bittersweet time for Lu.  She is excited to see how Alfie grows and develops with the addition of some new programmes including Music Therapy and Technology Assisted Learning. At the same time, she is sad to ‘leave behind’ the staff, who have walked the start of this journey with her and with whom she has made a strong connection.

After a recent visit to the paediatrician Lu reflected on just how much progress Alfie has made after attending our early intervention services for nearly one year. “The day-to-day experience when attending The Champion Centre helps him to be the best he can be as the additional things we get at the Centre have really made all the difference”.  Lu describes how Alfie can now roll and sit unaided and blow ‘raspberries’ (his favourite thing to do!). Most recently Lu has started to attend Hydrotherapy with Alfie and despite him still hating the bath, she reports he really enjoys Hydrotherapy and “laughs and kicks about”.

Alfie is now 22 months, and Lu reflects how much he loves food, cuddles, and watching and interacting with people. He has come such a long way and she speaks of how The Champion Centre has equipped her to help Alfie and continue to be a strong advocate for his needs.  The help has been “so invaluable, it’s difficult to put into words”. Lu is still quite amazed she didn’t know about The Champion Centre until they needed it.

​Looking ahead, Lu shares that she hopes he will walk and talk, and while he’s not there yet, that’s why he comes to The Champion Centre.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ALL IN TERM 2!