It has been a crazy few months for us all! The world stopped turning and suddenly we all had to work out how to carry on from the confines of our homes as well as being teachers and carers.

It’s been no different at 21 Together. The offices are collecting dust, but the staff are not! We have been dealing with the challenges of being apart, learning many new IT skills, as well as some staff members being on “furlough”. However, during this time we have tirelessly carried on to provide services to the children and families in our community. Have a read below of what we have been up to:

Online Communication and Circle Groups

• Learning to utilise online communication platforms has been a great skill for the team, Circle Groups are running on Zoom every Saturday from April-July. For Communication Groups we have been able to utilise the knowledge and skills of Laura Steere, a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist for instructional videos and resources as well as live Zoom sessions.

Early Intervention Launch

• Whilst our Early Intervention Pilot was not possible in April we have worked to find a solution for our pre-schoolers, who need the specialist teaching input more now than ever. We were proud to launch our online Early Intervention Programme in June, making sure all our little ones were getting the right support to keep building their skills and learning. The response has been overwhelming with so many children enjoying the videos. This programme is ongoing through the summer and is still available to purchase now. Please email info@21together.org.uk for further information.

Rebranding and Delivery of New Family Support Sessions

• From April this year we had decided to launch a new style of family support sessions, focusing on two separate streams of ‘Play & Stay',’ and ‘Well-being and Community Support.’ Despite not being able to be together in person, we have managed to successfully launch our first sessions of both Play & Stay and Well-being. We were treated to some relaxation and mindful techniques by Vics from Yomutra on our Well-being session. For Play & Stay, Bethany from Little Stars Therapy For Children gave us her top physio tips from birth to pre-school and our next session on 6th July will see Laura Steere (Key Communication) cover top tips to support the early foundations of speech, language and communication development in children with Down’s syndrome which are so key for their life long skills. There is still time to join us on this session; you can find the event in our calendar for registration.

Ongoing Provision of Community Support Service

• Throughout the pandemic our community support service has been fully functioning (albeit not in person) and supporting many families through various challenges and struggles. We have created dedicated pages on our website to help you understand tackle and the COVID-19 landscape. To access the service please click here.

Online Training Provision

• With the support of Inclusively Down have managed to transfer our yearly ‘Meeting the Learning Needs of Children and Young People with Down’s Syndrome’ Training to an online interactive learning course. With an online video and two live workshops we feel this year’s training may be better than ever! Click here to view the courses and book on now.

• Make sure to keep an eye on our training page as we are looking forwards to provisions for the next academic year. If there is any training you are particularly interested in, be sure to email us at info@21together.org.uk and let us know!

50/50 Lottery

• More people are still joining in our 50/50 lottery and the winning pot is increasing each month. There is still a few days to get in on the action for the July draw on Thursday 2nd July 2020. Click here to be in the game.

Exciting as all these changes have been, we miss seeing our families in person and enjoying our events together. But never fear, we are still planning ahead for when we can all be together again!

If you would like to help us to ensure that we can continue to provide services through this time and for many years to come you can support us by donating to our Covid - 19 Giving page.