'Charity helped my son learn to walk'

Clare said she did not know whether her son would be walking without the help of The Movement Centre

A mum has said she does not know where her son would be without support from a Children in Need-funded charity that she credits with helping him to walk.

Clare's six year-old son Jaxson has Down's syndrome, low muscle tone and hypermobility, which means he struggles with movement.

The family, from Ketley, Telford, received a fully-funded place for specialised therapy for Jaxson at The Movement Centre in Oswestry.

Clare said thanks to their help, Jaxson could now walk a "fair distance" on his own, and was trying to run and climb.

"I don't know where Jaxson would be now, whether he would be walking… it's hard to imagine really without that support," she said.

The Movement Centre has been open for almost 30 years, and delivers a specialist form of physiotherapy to children with Down's syndrome or those with diagnoses including Cerebral Palsy.

The therapy uses a standing frame and physiotherapy programme, which runs for about 12 months.

Clare said Jaxson was now trying to climb the sofa - something she never thought he would be able to do

Jaxson had an NHS physiotherapist, but his appointments were via video call due to the coronavirus pandemic, which Clare said did not work for him.

Once they received their place at The Movement Centre, Jaxson underwent targeted therapy from January 2023.

"They created a bespoke standing frame for him that we could take home with us… and he was having 30-minute sessions in it every day… doing lots of fun activities in it just to kind of build that core strength," she said.

"We would have reviews every couple of months where we take Jaxson and the standing frame back to the movement centre, they'd look at how he's getting on, assess his range of movement and gradually remove the support, the standing frame.

"To begin with he had a waist strap, that was removed on the first session, and then eventually the knee blocks were removed so it was very minimal support until he could stand independently."

The therapy is made as fun as possible for children, while helping their mobility

Jaxson was discharged from the charity in 2024.

The therapy is completely free to families, and the charity itself has been receiving yearly grant funding from Children in Need for three years.

"He's trying to climb... climbing things he shouldn't do like the sofa," Clare said.

"You kind of have to laugh it off sometimes because a few years ago we didn't think that would be possible."