Down Syndrome Ireland - Louth / Meath Branch
Down Syndrome Ireland – Louth / Meath Branch
We organised 2 Virtual Sibshops which were run by Sibshop Ireland on Saturday 28th November and Sunday 29th November.
Feedback has been positive.
A big Thank You to Liz & Linda from Sibshop Ireland as well as all our wonderful Siblings who took part.
We hope to run them again early in the New Year.
Thank you for expressing interest in taking part in the Fun With Numbers Zoom workshops.
We had a lot of interest, especially from our teenage members, so we have set up the following age groupings however if your child’s age falls outside these categories we will still try to accommodate, it’s not too late to get in touch.
The workshops will be taking place on Thursdays with the first session scheduled for Thursday 5th November .
The times of the sessions are as follows:
Ages 8-11 – 3.30pm
Ages 12-18 – 4.30pm
Down Syndrome Louth Meath will cover the cost of the four weeks so there will be no cost to parents for those four weeks. We will review at the end of 4 weeks and will welcome your feedback.
The students will need some materials ahead of the sessions, but Deirdre will let you know ahead of time what will be needed – it will all be inexpensive stuff that you may already have or can recycle around the house or will be able to get in the likes of Dealz.
Deirdre will also send links for printable materials, should any member not have access to a printer please contact us immediately when Deirdre posts links to printables and we can arrange to have them posted to you.
We will be setting up a WhatsApp group for each age group, so that Deirdre can fill you in on what materials are needed and send you the Zoom ID and password. Deirdre posts a video each week explaining about materials required.
Please let me know if you would like your child to take part. I will need the following details by return of email as soon as possible.
Child Name:
Parents name and telephone number for WhatsApp Group:
Child’s age:
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me secretarydslm@gmail.com.
The Branch Early Intervention Home Teacher Programme has restarted after the Pandemic lockdown.
The Branch has developed a new Covid-19 Policy, Risk Assessment as well as Protocols for our Tutors and Families so that we could reopen safely.The relevant Protocols have been sent to our relevant families.
People with Down syndrome may be particularly vulnerable to complications of Covid-19 because of underlying conditions so we ask you to read through the protocols thoroughly and reflect on whether you are comfortable to continue with the service at this time.
We have made every effort to put the appropriate protections in place to ensure the safety of families and the EI Home Tutors. If you have any concerns or queries regarding the resumption of the EI Programme, or the policy & protocols, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are happy to go through the details with you.
If you decide that you are not comfortable to go ahead with the home visits just yet, please contact us and let us know.
We understand that you may wish to temporarily suspend the visits for the moment and please be assured there is no penalty for doing this.
For families who decide to resume the home visits, we will be asking you to complete and sign the Resumption of Early Intervention Programme form confirming that you are happy to resume home visits and that you agree to abide by the protocol as outlined.
We have also developed a Personal Assessment Declaration Form to assist with contact tracing and this form must be completed before each home visit. The link to the form will be sent to you before your first visit to fill out online and you will simply repeat this exercise before each fortnightly visit.
We are closely following the latest reports in the media from NPHET & the Government and if there is any change, we will advise our families accordingly.
A big Thank You to our EI Home Teacher Coordinators Andrea McArdle, Ann Fallon and also Rebecca Smyth who worked very hard to get the service open again.
Dear Parents
I hope you and your families are keeping well and settling into a ’new’ normal. We know it has been a busy couple of weeks as many family members return to work, school / preschool after a long summer!
We want to take this opportunity to update you on the Early Intervention Home Teaching Service. There have been a few changes in the background following the recent AGM.
Many of you will know Rebecca Smyth who has been the Early Intervention Coordinator for a number of years now. She has decided to step back from this role and it will now fall to us – Ann Fallon and Andrea McArdle – to fill these big shoes.
A little bit about us … we are both Mammies of three, living in Drogheda, who have little ones currently enrolled in the Early Intervention Programme. Bobby is just shy of 2 years of age and Joanie is just over 2 and a half so we fully appreciate how important this service is to our families. We are delighted to be able to assist with this programme and are working towards its resumption with the Branch Committee and the home tutors.
We know some families have enquired when the service will restart and we had hoped that it would be from 7 September. However, we have been asked by Down Syndrome Ireland (head office) to postpone its resumption, based on current HSE advice, until at least the 21 September. This is basically to allow a period of time for the schools to return safely and monitor if there is any immediate impact on the spread of Covid-19 within the community.
We should mention that the Branch Committee has been working hard over the summer to establish a COVID-19 Response Plan that includes a range of procedures and guidelines relating to each of its services in advance of their re-commencement, which includes finalising the protocols for the Early Intervention Programme. Please be assured that the safety of our families, children and home tutors is our absolute priority and we will be circulating the finalised protocols well in advance of the service resuming so that each family has time to consider what is involved and if they are comfortable to proceed with visits at this time. As Rebecca mentioned in an earlier email, we understand every child and family circumstances can differ so there is no issue if you wish to suspend these visits temporarily.
We will be in touch again soon to update you on developments and please feel free to contact us at any stage if you have any queries or concerns. You can contact us by emailing us at earlyinterventionprogrammedslm@gmail.com.
In the meantime, stay safe and well.
Kind regards
Ann and Andrea
Ann Fallon and Andrea McArdle
Early Intervention Programme Coordinators
Down Syndrome Ireland
Louth/Meath Branch
Zoom Session for Parents & Toddlers
Olive Buckeridge, DSI Early Years Specialist runs a weekly Louth/Meath Zoom Session for Parents & Toddlers on Tuesday each week on Zoom.
The Session will run on Tuesdays at 11.15AM
The sessions are informal with lots of Singing, Signing and some Vocabulary and there is no limit on the numbers just that they are for Parents and Toddlers.
Olive want to stress that Parents can dip in and out of them and use them as a support.
The Log-In details will be sent out by email. If you do not receive the email please contact Brendan on secretarydslm@gmail.com to receive it.
Preschool Speech Sound Practice
Olive Buckeridge is running a Speech Practice Group for Pre School Children on Zoom.
These are not intervention groups they are an opportunity to practice speech sounds. They are very general and they do not replace speech therapy sessions.
Olive will be running this online speech group on Thursdays at 2pm which will focus on a different sound weekly.
(Please note this is not a speech and language therapy session)
The Log-In details will be sent out by email. If you do not received the email please contact Brendan on secretarydslm@gmail.com to receive it.
Each week Olive will be focusing on a different sound and Olive will sent a little workbook in advance.
Notice of Louth/Meath Branch AGM on Monday, August 24th, 2020 at 8.00pM
In accordance with Branch Rules, the Annual General Meeting of the Louth Meath Branch of Down Syndrome Ireland will be held on Monday, August 24th, 2020 at 8.00pm by Video Conference on the Zoom Platform.
According to our Memorandum and Articles of Association, Section12 (g), the rules governing the frequency and conduct of an AGM apply to the Branch AGM. The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement is urging all companies to abide by their companies deadlines during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Although things are improving with regard to COVID-19 within the Country, it is unlikely that we will be able to hold a full physical meeting in the coming months. The Branch Committee have considered various options and feel that, with the increased use of video conference call technology, it will be possible to hold our AGM virtually.
Eligible members (Full members who have renewed their membership for the year 2020) are entitled to attend the meeting but must first register by email (secretarydslm@gmail.com) with the Branch, their intention to attend. After registering with the Branch, the eligible member will be emailed further details including a Log-in link.
If you have not yet renewed your Membership for 2020, you can still renew it. Details on renewing your membership can be found on our website https://dsilmb.ie/becomeamember/. It’s very important for all members to pay their membership as they will not be covered by insurance for any branch activities that they are involved in. All parents of children availing of the Early Intervention (Home Teacher) Programme, the Funding Scheme or any other activity or event organised by the branch must pay their membership each year.
The branch is very much aware that many of our adult members are missing out on learning opportunities because of the closure of services and classes due to the COVID-19 situation.
We are delighted to have been allocated tuition hours resources from the Louth Community Education Service of the Louth Meath Education and Training Board.
These tuition hours will support online classes in the areas of Art and Computer Skills. The two courses will be tailored to the needs of our members to help them to maintain/develop their artistic and computer skills over the next two months.
The classes will be delivered online to a class of approx’ 6-10 students. This will allow for a good level of interaction between the tutors and the students. We have had some very good feedback recently from members engaging in online classes and meetings.
We expect that this will form an increasingly important part of educational provision in the future and we invite our adult members to give it a try through these classes. This is a great opportunity especially if you haven’t done online classes before.
If you are interested in a class in Art or Computer Skills(or both), please email your contact details to:
Mike Egan at mike@downsyndrome.ie or call 085.8618866.
The weekly class times will be arranged to best suit the availability of the students and tutors. Give Mike a call if you have any questions
Olive Buckeridge, DSI Early Years Specialist runs a weekly Louth/Meath Zoom Session for Parents & Toddlers on Tuesday each week on Zoom.
The next Session will be on Tuesday 9th June at 11.15AM
The sessions are informal with lots of Singing, Signing and some Vocabulary and there is no limit on the numbers just that they are for Parents and Toddlers.
Olive want to stress that Parents can dip in and out of them and use them as a support.
The Log-In details have been sent out by email. If you have not received the email please contact Brendan on secretarydslm@gmail.com to receive it.
Olive Buckeridge, DSI Early Years Specialist runs a weekly Louth/Meath Zoom Session for Parents & Toddlers on Tuesday each week on Zoom.
The next Session will be on Tomorrow Tuesday 26th May at 11.15.
The sessions are informal with lots of Singing, Signing and some Vocabulary and there is no limit on the numbers just that they are for Parents and Toddlers.
Olive want to stress that Parents can dip in and out of them and use them as a support.
The Log-In details have been sent out by email. If you have not received the email please contact Brendan on secretarydslm@gmail.com to receive it.