Concerns with Maeve’s health began during her newborn checks, and then followed weeks and months of stress, and being told to ‘wait and see’. We fought hard to get people to take notice and finally ended up at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

By the age of one, Maeve was sitting unaided, but unable to crawl, shuffle or roll. She wasn’t able to speak or sign, and had no independence.

Whilst some of the medical interventions have been wonderful, there was a clear lack of resources on the softer side of care. Lengthy waiting lists, combined with brief sporadic telephone appointments meant Maeve’s gross motor skills weren’t developing. We felt a bit lost, overwhelmed and worried about how to support Maeve. We told Health Visitors “we need more help” and they directed us to Playskill.

We applied to Playskill and hoped, expecting another long wait. After a video assessment, we were swiftly offered a place in January 2021 when Maeve was 18 months old. In January 2021 we were in the middle of another lockdown, however, we received a comprehensive timetable for online sessions. From that first session the impact of having the dedicated support was instant. As a direct result of encouragement from Playskill, Maeve pulled herself up to standing and supported her own weight for the first time at 19 months, after just 1 month with Playskill.

We are still waiting for our referral to NHS Speech and Language to come to anything, many months down the line! After Easter, Playskill were able to provide face-to-face support, allowing us to meet Maeve’s therapists and support workers, and most importantly to meet other parents. When you become a parent of a child with additional needs, there is no substitute for talking to another parent with similar challenges.

2021 is when Maeve took her first steps, spoke her first word, and grew significantly in confidence. We have been able to share these milestones with a fantastic dedicated group of therapists who show as much pride and delight in her achievements as we do.

From the beginning of our time with Playskill, it has been apparent that the focus was not just on helping Maeve directly, but on helping us as a family to tackle the challenges together.

We know we are no longer alone and cannot thank the wonderful people at Playskill enough for all they have done for us, along with those organisations and individuals that help fund it.

It truly is a remarkable charity and we hope many other families can benefit from life changing interventions like ours in the future.