A voice today means a future tomorrow

This Down Syndrome Awareness Month you can help give Kiwi kids with Down syndrome the gift of speech!

UpsideDowns provides speech and language therapy to children and young people with Down syndrome, empowering them to learn to speak, read, write, and communicate. We currently support more than 340 children throughout New Zealand, with 21 families on our waitlist.

UpsideDowns is a registered charity, all donations are eligible for a 33.33% tax credit

$25.00
Contribution towards a session of speech therapy

$70.00
30 minutes with a therapist

$140.00
One full session of speech therapy

$280.00
Two speech therapy sessions

$560.00
A month of speech tehrapy

$1,000.00
Speech therapy for a school term

Custom Amount

Support us by covering the fees we have to pay

3% Cover the Fee

Meet Joshua

This is 11-year-old Joshua giving a talk about his speech and language therapy journey to a crowd of hundreds!

In Year 7 at school, Joshua loves playing games, doing sports, and performing on stage. He was recently in a production of Little Nemo – he played Nemo! He speaks with confidence, clarity, and more than a little humour, but it hasn’t always been that way:

“I started speech therapy when I was a baby. Mum said I didn’t cry and I didn’t babel, so she was a bit worried. It took me a long time to make sounds and then a longer time to make words and then a very long time to make sentences.
“Mum didn’t need to worry though, I’m speaking lots and lots now. And sometimes mum and dad tell me to be quiet because I talk too much!”

That wasn’t an issue when he delivered his speech at our Share the Dream Gala this year; the crowd couldn’t get enough of Joshua. He had them laughing heartily and applauding enthusiastically.

Joshua is an amazing example of what Kiwi kids with Down syndrome can achieve when properly supported with speech and language therapy. Help us support hundreds of kids just like Joshua to learn to speak, read, write and live their best lives – donate today!

“Thank you UpsideDowns for helping me and all the people with Down syndrome get better at speaking.”