February 2010
Welcome to McKenzie Centre. We have been providing early intervention services in the Waikato since 1984. McKenzie Centre provides children with special needs, from birth to school age
, with a transdisciplinary team of Speech Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy as well as specialized Early Intervention Teachers, an Assistive Technology Specialist and consultant Psychologist and Social Worker. We are the only early intervention service in the North Island with such a wide range of professionals located together in one centre.
One of our major goals is supporting families to realize their child's potential. Sometimes families are given a pessimistic outcome for their child so it is refreshing to come to McKenzie Centre and realize that something can be done. Together using the expertise of the family and guidance from the early intervention team we assess and then plan intervention to help the child develop to their fullest potential. Families attend McKenzie Centre to meet other families in a similar situation and we foster this by regular morning teas and support groups so parents can take a break, talk about their issues, share knowledge and support each other often forming long term friendships.
We welcome your thoughts and suggestions so please come and discuss these with me. Below are some thoughts from a parent who describes her involvement with McKenzie Centre.
Best wishes
Trisha Benge
Centre Director
My husband and I have two wonderful son's aged10 and 3. Our youngest son has been attending McKenzie Centre since the age of 5 months. He falls into a grey area as he has no diagnosed condition but fits the symptoms of many. He was born with both his eyes completely crossed, (which has partly been corrected by surgery) microcaphly (small head), tongue tied and with very little muscle tone. He has severely delayed development. His prognosis was not what we had prepared ourselves for. We don't know what to expect for his future, which is why McKenzie Centre has made a huge difference in our lives.
When we first came to McKenzie Centre, our son was unable to do any thing that a child of the same age was achieving, he wasn't able to roll, hold a rattle, and he was just like a new born baby. We did not realise what his potential would be and didn't know what to expect. In the time that he has been working with the dedicated team at McKenzie Centre he has learnt some of life's most valuable skills; skills that you and I take for granted. He is now able to walk un- aided for a short period of time, his speech is starting to develop and his every day life skills are developing each day to enable him a great achievement of independence. He is also fortunate to have a dedicated ESW to give him support at crèche.
Through McKenzie Centre I have learnt to identify his needs by his body language and unique facial expressions – The staff at McKenzie Centre have been instrumental in helping us to identify his way of communicating with us. Socialising with other children in a safe environment where he isn't considered different, and the staff and other family/whanau understand their needs, means that we to can feel safe and accepted here. This is really important for parents.
As a parent representative on the McKenzie Centre Trust, I help to facilitate parent morning tea once a term at the Centre. At these sessions, parents report that the feeling of acceptance, both their children and themselves, is invaluable. Often explaining your child's disability can be very unsettling and some what expected by others, especially when you know that they are already making their own judgement, which often makes parents feel out of place at playgroups and coffee groups with typically developing children, so it's a weight off your shoulders knowing that we've got staff who not only help the children develop to their potential and beyond our expectations, but also help us to help our children, while accepting us and our own limitations. It means a lot to us as well to have the opportunity to show each other support and understanding, both at the morning tea sessions and during our child's weekly session at the centre.
I can tell you that I am very honoured to have been chosen as my son's Mumma (that's his most recently spoken word) I can say that he is very unique and we as a family have been blessed to be given the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful facility that offers beyond the call of duty care and a safe environment that we all feel so welcome in attending.
Without the McKenzie Centre I do not know where I would be, it's a parents worst nightmare not knowing what to expect for your child's future, McKenzie Centre needs your support to ensure that the centre is available for families in years to come. If there was no McKenzie Centre, for my family there would be very little light at the end of a very long tunnel.
Janine
website and learning management system.