What our families say

Testimonials

To whom it may concern,

I am Amanda, the blessed mother of George, aged 3 years. George has trisomy 21. George has a significant speech delay, developmental/intellectual difficulties and requires help in fine/large motor skills, learning to communicate and engaging in play.

There is no intensive therapy provision in our area other than little stars. Since George was born, he was seeing a therapist from the DHB every month for the first year, and then moved to seeing one every 3-4 months. This involves a quick, rushed visit, with barely any handson therapy and many times I had thought it was pointless in travelling into town for the appointment as i did not find it helpful at all. Nor was it consistent (which is a crucial factor in learning and absorbing new skills).

George has Perthes which is a hip condition of both his hips where the joints are significantly worn down, impacting his large motor skills. George has decreased grip and pinch strength due to having thick hands with low tone and finds difficulty in fine motor skills.

As Georges mum and advocate i feel it is absolutely vital for George's wellbeing and future abilities to continue at Little Stars. These early years are so important to establish the foundations of play, communication, engagement along with motor skills. It is important that he learns as much as he can now while his brain is like a sponge, this is crucial in my eyes.

There is only so much we can do at home as I do not have the knowledge, resources, or abundance of time to teach George what he deserves to know and learn. George has 3 older brothers aged 11, 8 and 5. Continuing Little Stars would help set George’s body and mind up on the best possible path, so that he can live his best life. It would not only impact George but would impact our family as a whole because given George’s challenges and difficulties he faces, it effects our family unit as George needs a lot of time and a lot of help.

We just want the very best start for our beautiful George as his future is so bright and so exciting.

Thank you for your time,
Kind regards,
Amanda

I’m Ili. Mother of Inas, aged 2 and 7 months. Inas was diagnosed with Down syndrome at birth. It has impacted Inas’s development in all areas such as mobility, play, social engagement, communication and self-care activities.

We do get some support from the hospital for physiotherapist sessions once a month, just a call follow-up once from a speech therapist, and seldom visit from a teacher aid to daycare. But apart from all that, I still do think it’s still not enough for Inas.

After getting some early intervention support from Little Stars as we go there once a week, I can see lots of improvement in Inas’s development and communication skills. She has learnt sign language and uses it in her daily life, making it easier for us to understand what she wants and does not want.

Inas now can understands instructions better as therapist in Little Stars teach us parents’ which word to focus on. She does a lot of walking, and we are very happy that now she is more confident and better on a swing after lots of motivation and multiple tries on it every week at the centre.

Thus, I think helps and supports from Little Stars are essential for us especially, Inas as we can see her improvement every single week.

Narelle, mum of Hugo aged 4 years.

Hugo has a genetic diagnosis of Sartos Syndrome. He has a mild developmental delay and severe to profound hearing loss. Hugo has extreme auditory processing difficulties which has never been picked up by the DHB therapists. He has significant developmental and intellectual difficulties and needs help to engage in play, communication, understanding and organisation.

There are no intense therapy provisions in our area other than Little Stars. Since he was born, he has seen a physio and OT from the DHB. The physio saw him 3x (twice at kindy). They offered a week-long programme, however, due to family circumstances he was unable to attend. The OT had 5 home visits and then wrote a report with advice and guidance in preparation for school.

At Little Stars I feel there is a holistic view to Hugo’s learning approach. This includes physio, OT, Speech-Language, and they have picked up on his significant auditory processing delay. I feel Hugo is gaining a much better holistic approach to his learning. If he wasn’t at Little Stars there would be no therapy provided by the DHB. He only has 30 minutes of paid private speech therapy.

Rastem, dad of Leon, aged 2 years. Leon was born at 25 weeks and 4 gestation. He had several medical conditions like Grade 4 brain bleed, pulmonary hypertension, liver lesions, and a high risk for cerebral palsy. There is NO intensive therapy provision in our area other than Little Stars. Since he was transferred here in Palmy, he saw a therapist from the DHB once a month. Little Stars have provided us a rigid therapy for our son and has made a big difference with our son’s physical movement and speech.

I am Crystal, mum of Elijah, a 22 month old boy who has significant developmental delays, hypotonia and hypersensitivity/sensory processing disorder. He needs help to learn to engage in play, learning on how to use his hands to play, and eventually to stand and build up his core and trunk muscles. Apart from that, he also needs help to improve his motor skills. Since he was about 3-4 months old, he gets to see physiotherapist from the DHB fortnightly. The physiotherapist will visit us at home but never a hands-on therapy. All we are getting are advice on what to do with him at home, printout sheets or booklets. Hence, the visit got reduced from fortnightly to monthly as we thought that it was a waste of time. We were lost until we found Little Stars, where we got hands on therapy from Heather at least twice a week. We need someone who can actually help him to engage with his play and understanding and this is something that DHB can’t provide.

Crystal

“I have been coming to Little Stars since February 2024 because I do not get any hands-on therapy from the DHB. It has been verbal advice, printouts of suggestions, but no direct work with Elijah. I am not an expert and have only learn by seeing what the therapist at Little Stars does, me trying it with her helping me, then practicing at home. Also, because I come every week, I feel support and motivated to keep trying t help our wee boy. The DHB input is only once a month for about ½ hour – it is just not enough. Due to lack of funding, Little Stars have given free sessions from February to July of this year. I want to join small group sessions but know they need to fund these?

Elisabeth, Mum of Mia, age 3 years Mia has significant cognitive and physical delays due to a genetic condition. Prior to finding Little Stars Mia was struggling to get involvement from the DHB at the intensity she required. We were seeing a VNT approximately every 6 weeks and were told that as we had a VNT we didn't qualify for physio support. Since finding Little Stars, Mia has been able to access both a Physiotherapist and an Occupational Therapist weekly. They are also aiding us with Speech Language Therapy that we have had no luck sourcing via the DHB. Due to Little Stars involvement, Mia has been able to master walking, however she still has a long way to go towards tackling stairs, uneven ground or running. Thanks to Little Stars Mia has been able to take steps towards joining her peers for play, she has learnt to spin from watching the other children at daycare. I would credit this directly to the Little Stars team teaching her to watch, concentrate, and copy. Mia still has no communication via sign or verbal. We will be counting on Little Stars to help us navigate supporting this journey for Mia. Mia was forgotten by the system, the DHB seemed to be uninterested in being part of her team. Little Stars are the only place that we have found that saw Mia as a person and for her potential, not just a number on a case load.

Jenny, Mum of Samuel now aged 9 years: Comments about the service she had prior to Samuel being able to access (Occupational Therapy (OT) and Physiotherapy (PT) at Little Stars twice weekly.

“Samuel was seen by Child Development Services just once every 3 -4 weeks. This 1-hour session included time spent discussing equipment referrals to other departments etc, not just hands-on therapy.

At school age, the therapists’ visit Samuel at school and concentrate on how the school could adapt the curriculum, use equipment etc. This is a focus on environmental adaptations to compensate for his disabilities, but NOT hands-on therapy by OT and PT to help him LEARN.

In contrast, Little Stars is providing hands-on therapy to help Samuel learn HOW to do more things for himself.

Therapy is SO important for our children – it helps them to be the best version of themselves and helps them learn how to do things other children have no difficulty with.

To whom it may concern, My name is Wendy Gruber and my daughter is Charlize Gruber who has Rett syndrome. This is a very debilitating syndrome. Charlize was seen by the dhb child development unit since she was a baby have fortnightly physical manipulative sessions to help her body. Once she turned five years old the service was no longer available and it was then passed onto the school. Charlize has significant developmental/ disabilities and needs help to learn to engage in play and communicate!

There is NO intensive physical therapy provision in our area other than little stars. Thanks goodness with the help of the amazing facility ‘little stars’ we have seen ways that help my daughter move in lots of different way using music, art, communication and creative play.

This is such a valuable place for my daughter to help with her well-being and movement needs.

Wendy Gruber