South Manchester Down's Syndrome Support Group (SMDSSG)

SMDSSG
Who we are

South Manchester Down's Syndrome Support Group exists to empower children and young people with Down’s syndrome to reach their potential and lead fulfilling lives. We do this both directly by facilitating their access to social and educational opportunities and indirectly by helping their family members and carers to provide more effective support. We are a registered charity run by parent volunteers (Registered Charity No: 1164570).

What we do

We organise regular social events throughout the year including Christmas parties, bowling, soft play and many more.

We support families by providing opportunities to meet, talk, swap stories, share information, make friends and develop support networks, thus promoting social coherence and resilience.

We provide advice, activities, social events, information, resources and training for children and young people with Down's syndrome, their parents, carers and siblings, and the professionals who work with them

We issue a monthly newsletter, with lots of useful information and updates about the group and its activities, to over 300 families and professionals across Greater Manchester

We have an active website, Facebook page and Twitter account

We nurture friendships between children who have Down's syndrome and between their siblings

We organise high quality training for parents, carers and professionals (teachers, learning support assistants, speech and language therapists, educational psychologists) that addresses the specific learning needs of children with Down’s syndrome

We offer a range of resources – DVDs and books – for families to borrow

We run a monthly Chatterbox Club, attended by 40+ families, offering opportunities for families to meet, and providing specialist group speech and language therapy classes, arts and crafts activities, sing and sign sessions, and yoga

We run a fortnightly pre-school group for children aged 0-4 and their siblings; with singing and signing or speech and language therapy activities

We work in partnership with the Down's Syndrome Association to deliver its WorkFit programme in the South Manchester area, helping adults with Down's syndrome into training and employment

We organise activities and social events, including a very popular Christmas party!

We rely on successful grant applications, donations and fundraising by our members and friends to fund all our activities. If you would like to, you can make a donation here:
https://localgiving.org/charity/dsmanchester/

Chatterbox Club

One Saturday morning each month, we run a Chatterbox club. A family event with opportunities for families to socialise whilst children can access a wide range of activities including speech and language sessions, sing and sign classes, drama group, yoga and craft workshops.

Lancasterian School, West Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2XA

email: contact@dsmanchester.org.uk for more details

Preschool Group

Fortnightly on Monday morning. All children welcome aged from birth to 4 (Including siblings)

Drop in or stay the whole time. Have a drink, biscuit and chat with other parents/carers and grandparents.

We have monthly visits/workshops with specialists to help provide useful information on care and education.

Come and tell us what you’d like to be on offer at these groups.

East Didsbury Methodist Church, East Didsbury, M20 5QQ

email: contact@dsmanchester.org.uk for more details

WorkFit

We are working in partnership with the DSA to deliver its WorkFit programme in the South Manchester area, supporting people who have Down's syndrome into work

Our Local Support Network Lead is John Henry, who can be contacted at 

john.henry@downs-syndrome.org.uk, mobile: 07767 123 849

Our Newsletter

We have a monthly newsletter that goes out to over 200 families around Manchester. It contains lots of information about meetings, resources, websites and updates about our activities.

Other Activities and Resources  

We provide professionally delivered training events for parents/carers and practitioners.

We also have resources such as books, DVD’s etc for loan.

email: contact@dsmanchester.org.uk for more details

Who to contact

Contact Name
Esther Whitaker
Contact Position
CEO
Telephone
07593 542107 07593 542107
E-mail
Website
Down's Syndrome Manchester
Scan to visit this website
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/SMDSSG
Twitter
https://twitter.com/SMDSSG

Where to go

Name
South Manchester Down's Syndrome Support Group (office)
Address
Unit 17
41 Old Birley Street
Manchester
Postcode
M15 5RF
View M15 5RF on a map

Who is it for?

Ages
  • 0-25
Supporting People With
  • Learning disability
  • Communication
  • Profound or Multiple Needs

Accessibility

Details

Parking

Costs

Details
Free

Availability

Referral Required?
No

Actions

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