MERU - From disabilities to possibilities

London Ambulance Service to take part in a Mongolia charity rally to raise funds for MERU!

2011-04-04T11:26:00.012+01:00

Members of the London Ambulance Service and our lovely Volunteer Co-ordinator & Outreach Project Leader, Vicky will be taking part in an exciting Mongolian Rally to raise invaluable funds for MERU! The Mongolian Rally is run by the charity, Go Help who run community projects in Mongolia as well as crucially supporting Mongolia's first ambulance service!

The epic journey will see participants partnered together to drive seven recently decommissioned ambulances from London to the Mongol capital, Ulaanbaatar. The collaboration will mean that not only will invaluable funds be raised for MERU but also for Go Help too!

Recently MERU held a 'meet and greet' for the London Ambulance Service's Mongolia Rally teams at our workshops in Epsom. It was a great opportunity to tell participants a bit more about the life-changing work we do and the lovely Charlie from Go Help came along too!

We'll be posting updates about this exciting fundraising rally - so do keep checking back - or even better, subscribe to our blog! If you'd like more information about the Mongolian Rally, check out http://mongolia.charityrallies.org/

Communication Matters at the Communication Works Exhibition 2011

2011-03-31T14:40:00.009+01:00

MERU is excited to be taking part in Communication Works 2011 as part of our involvement in the national year of communication (Hello 2011)!

We'll be there to explain how the work we do can play a vital part in helping a disabled child or young person communicate! We'll also be bringing along our affordable range of off-the-shelf products, all designed following requests from families and therapists - all proceeds from the sale of these products go towards funding our vital work!

Check out the below poster for details - we hope to see you there!

Early chatter matters - from bump to birth and beyond - Ewan's story

2011-03-03T12:45:00.006Z

Ewan is three. He has Cerebral Palsy which affects both his communication and mobility skills. However, MERU has provided Ewan with his first powered mobility device, BUGZI; a tiny indoor wheelchair giving Ewan the perfect vehicle to take control of his mobility whilst learning new skills that will support his communication development.

MERU has previously manufactured a supportive seating insert to fit into a trailer buggy. This attaches to Ewan’s dad, Ben’s bicycle, allowing Ewan to join in with his family’s cycling activities. It was so successful that Ewan and Ben just completed their first Half-Ironman Triathlon together!

BUGZI offers children as young as 18 months, who have severe physical disabilities, the chance to be independently mobile. It does this by allowing them to use and develop their physical co-ordination and motor skills – as well as developing spatial awareness and personal risk management in a similar way to toddlers who can walk. Using BUGZI is also a great motivator and provides a platform for children to use these skills in developing their communication.

Allison Dick, Senior Paediatric Occupational Therapist at the Orchard House Child Development Centre, agrees. ”Not only is the experience of movement vital for children with limited motor skills but Bugzi also provides an alternative way by to develop their understanding of cause and effect, and the skills they need to operate switches.”

Children like Ewan use switches, such as the large buttons you can see in the photograph, to communicate, learning to consciously move their hands, feet or head to press a switch to make a choice. Developing their switching skills at an early age with BUGZI can be hugely beneficial and open up opportunities for choice-making and improved communication skills.

Ben says: “Without Bugzi, Ewan has limited ability to do what most children love – to explore! Using the switches allows him to be mobile independently but teaches him about active play. Pressing buttons and understanding the resulting actions is vital for his cognitive development. He loves the Bugzi – Thank you MERU!”

MERU supports Hello the National Year of Communication, aiming to raise awareness of the challenges that children and young people with communication difficulties face and the help and support that are available to them.

Early chatter matters - from bump to birth and beyond

2011-02-09T14:01:00.001Z

We're well into February now and Christmas already seems like a lifetime ago. The arrival of February has not only brought hope that Spring is just around the corner but also the start of another month in The National Year of Communication.

This month's theme and indeed next month's too is 'Early chatter matters - from bump to birth and beyond'. This centres on the importance of nurturing communicational development from a young age.

So how is MERU going to get involved? Well, out of all the monthly themes this is one of the more challenging months for us to get involved with as early years communication isn't one of the more prominent aspects of the work that we do. This is not to say that we don't have any involvement in early years communication at all. In fact our involvement will stem from a case study of a young boy who we have worked with for a while now. He has cerebral palsy and has recently started using a MERU, Bugzi wheelchair.

You may well wonder what a wheelchair has to do with early years communication. The answer is simple. Many of the children who use MERU's Bugzi wheelchair also use communication aids when they are older. The use of the Bugzi allows children to develop their switching skills from an early age, which therefore aids their ability to use a communication aid effectively.

We will be posting this case study in a few days but in the meantime please let us know what you think about our plans for The National Year!

Meet and greet with the lovely folks from the London Ambulance Service who are running the marathon for MERU!

2011-01-27T12:28:00.005Z

So as you may have guessed from the not so cryptic title of this blog post, MERU was lucky enough to hold a meet and greet evening at our workshops for the lovely people from the London Ambulance Service who are running the marathon for us!

On Tuesday evening we were all busy running around putting seats out in our (rather cold) workshop, getting drinks and nibbles ready (always a good part of a meet and greet) and of course preparing for our fundraising presentation delivered by our lovely fundraising manager, Emma.

Once everyone arrived we had some fabulous photos taken by the London Ambulance Service's photographer. It was a lot of fun and everyone really enjoyed it (even those like myself who are ordinarily a bit camera shy)!

After loads of group photos we all trooped into the workshop to hear Emma's presentation about fundraising. It really offered a different perspective on the best methods to fundraise, it doesn't just mean going round shaking a tin at everyone you know! There are all kinds of different ways to fundraise - how about offering to clean your friends' house or cook them dinner in exchange for some sponsorship? It was great to chat to people afterwards as I think it really inspired people to 'think out of the box' with fundraising ideas. I even spoke to someone who was intending to organise a house party and charge a small fee for entry which had me convinced!

It was really lovely to get a chance to meet so many people who are so generously running the London Marathon for MERU. As everyone knows, it's by no means an easy to task to run a marathon, the amount of training, mental strength and discipline is something that I myself could never hope to achieve. So our heartfelt thanks to all of you for dedicating your time and energy to MERU. I can promise the funds raised will make such a difference to so many children's lives.

Thank you once again from all of us at MERU.

Hello. Don't take communication for granted.

2011-01-11T11:02:00.002Z

The arrival of January cites the beginning of The National Year of Communication and with it the first theme of the year: 'Hello. Don't take communication for granted'. "So what is this theme all about?" I hear you ask. The answer is simple. January marks a month of raising awareness of the importance and value of communication in every area of our lives.

The truth is communication is something that can easily be taken for granted by us all. Until we are confronted with a communication difficulty, whether our own or that of a friend or a family member, it can be hard to appreciate how this can impact the life of an individual and those around them.

Communication is all around us and affects us all in our everyday lives. So support MERU's involvement in The National Year of Communication. Visit http://www.hello.org.uk/ to find out more.

Shop online and support MERU this Christmas!

2010-12-14T10:21:00.001Z

If you're anything like me then much of your Christmas shopping will be done online - a great way to avoid the crowds and general stresses involved when it comes to hitting the shops at Christmas! But did you know that you can support MERU by shopping online?

Sign up at www.thegivingmachine.co.uk and select MERU as your charity of choice, then when you buy anything from the hundreds of online retailers on the site (including Argos, Boots, Ebay, HMV etc) the retailer will give a percentage of the profits to MERU!

This is typically just 1% to 5% - but it's free to do so and even just 1% of the money spent at Christmas by all of MERU’s supporters would soon add up. So far we have received £105 in this way, which I’m sure we could beat this year!

So spread some festive cheer and support MERU this Christmas!

Hello to the national year of communication

2010-12-13T16:24:00.001Z

Hello is the national year of communication – a campaign to increase understanding of how important it is for children and young people to develop good communication skills. The campaign is run by The Communication Trust, a coalition of over 35 leading voluntary sector organisations, in partnership with Jean Gross, the Government’s Communication Champion.

Hello aims to make communication for all children and young people a priority in homes and schools across the UK so that they can live life to the full. The campaign is backed by the Department for Education and supported by BT.

A child with a speech, language and communication need may struggle to get words out of their mouth or not understand words that are being used. They may have difficulties holding a conversation, have multiple difficulties or simply have a limited vocabulary. These barriers are often invisible to others, meaning their needs are often misrepresented, misdiagnosed or missed altogether.

Please visit www.hello.org.uk for information on how you can help improve the communication skills of children and young people and to sign up for regular updates. You can also follow the campaign on Twitter [LINK: http://twitter.com/Comm_nTrust] and facebook [LINK: http://on.fb.me/9yHIIZ].