Can you give children like Thomas the gift of play this Christmas?
‘The Gift of Play’ is an annual appeal from our charity, i care.
The appeal helps children who have additional needs to benefit from new toys and play equipment that will support them with their therapy programmes.
Two-year-old Thomas Edmonds from Canterbury is just one of the many children who are helped by the annual appeal.
Thomas’ mum, Chrissy Galer said: “Thomas has a condition called congenital cerebella hyperplasia, which means the part of his brain that coordinates movement is smaller than usual. It affects his balance, speech and behaviour and he was late to reach his milestones, only crawling for the first time at 18 months. He was born prematurely and they told us that the worst-case scenario was he would never walk unassisted, but he proved them wrong.”
KCHFT children’s therapist, Lini John has been working with Thomas and his family for the past year and says the toys provided through the appeal are vital to helping the children they care for to develop. She said: “When we start any therapy we need to remove all the fears and anxieties for the child, and the toys help us to do that. They also stimulate their concentration and help them build their fine motor skills.
“If I want a child to stand on one leg, they may not want to do that, but if I give them a ball to kick they will and I can watch them, assess and plan further therapies. It’s not just one thing the toys do, they do so much”
“We can’t work without toys so we’re really grateful for the donations from the appeal.”
Chrissy has nothing but praise for Lini’s team and the help they’ve given Thomas to overcome his difficulties. She said: “Thomas has come on so far, they’re amazing. They’re all so lovely and they’ve helped us all so much, I’m really happy.”
Donated toys and games go directly to our NHS physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy teams in Kent and East Sussex so that they can start to help children on their caseload straightaway.
The 'Gift of Play' wishlist is available on Amazon.co.uk or you can donate to i care directly online.
You can hear more from Thomas's mum Chrissy, our children's physiotherapist Lini John and from Thomas himself by watching our 'Gift of Play' appeal video.
