I am pleased to inform you all, that as agreed by the Trustees, The Liberis Charity provided grants of £5,478 to help 6 children between the age of 6 to 13 who had severe learning and communicating disability.

The equipment was recommended by their school, medical and other specialists responsible for their day to day needs and health and wellbeing. The equipment was delivered to the children in the first week of October 2014 and we believe that this will make a huge difference to their lives and will give them hope for independent living and a new beginning.

Grants were given to:

1st Child – 11 year old girl
She has learning difficulties with severe speech and language delay plus mild hearing resulting in limited expressive verbal communication skills. This holds her back academically and socially. Her speech and language therapist (SLT) had informed that without communication aid she would withdraw from attempting to communicate and likely to affect her integration in the community. It was recommended that the best device would be Nova Chat Plus; this device would ‘talk’ for the child.
This was provided.

2nd Child – 6 year old boy
He has Cerebral Palsy adversely affecting his motor skills and able to walk very short distance with a Kay walker. Able to speak but some words very unclear and his communication needs centre around is fine motor skills which affect his ability to write. He is able to write just a few sentences in the same time his peers can write 2 pages. His school and key worker ITACC recommended an iPad with an app called Clicker, which develops writing skills and builds writers confidence.
This was provided.

3rd Child – 9 year old boy
He has Downs Syndrome with associated learning difficulties, moderate hearing loss, impaired vision and requires ventilator during the night due to respiratory difficulties. Currently communicates using a mixture of gestures, facial expressions, single words and Makatron signs. Speak and Language Therapists recommended that the best equipment would be iPad with Grid 2 software, this would give support in his vocabulary development, ability to combine words, and provide a context to what he is saying and help him communicate more clearly.
This was provided.

4th & 5th Child – 2 brothers, 10 & 13 years old
They are Autistic with sever learning difficulties, Irlen Syndrome, limited speech and several associated problems. The boys can say only few words but only to people who are familiar to them, which leaves them feeling extremely frustrated and isolated hence they lack confidence. Recommendation was for iPad with Communication software to help improve the social skills, confidence and interaction with others.
The equipment was provided.

6th Child – 11 year old boy
He has Autistic Spectrum Disorders with learning difficulties and other associated problems and at times goes into an emotional “meltdown” and cries and screams. His gross motor skills are not all well developed and due to his poor handwriting skills, his literacy and numeracy skills are suffering. All this is having a major impact on his interaction with others and his independence. His special need teacher, after extensive trials, concluded that an SB10 device with Grid2 software would help with a lot of his educational and communication issues.

This equipment was provided.

H A Bhatiani(Lal)
Chairman