Nikolai’s a Knockout

Our partner charity, UpsideDowns, helps children with Down syndrome find their voice. For Nikolai, that support has opened doors to friendships, independence, and a future full of possibility.

Every parent wants to see their child have a good start in life, a chance to be the best version of themselves. There’s something indescribable about seeing your child achieve things you hadn’t imagined possible. Indescribable, but you know it when you see it – just ask Nikolai’s parents.

Nikolai was born with Down syndrome, the world’s most common chromosomal variation in babies. It results in several challenges other children do not have to contend with, primary among them an impaired ability to speak. People living with Down syndrome often grow up to be non-verbal, living isolated lives, suffering preventable mental and physical problems, their lives heavily dependent on others. All because they do not have a voice.

But for Nikolai, this is far from the case.

Emerging from his teenage years, Nikolai has a full and exciting life. He has healthy friendships with his peers. He keeps fit through boxing and football. He’s creative, enjoying woodwork, art, and design. He’s always up for a family outing or a good game of Uno. And he’s racking up work experience in retail and hospitality. Nikolai is a brilliant example of the limits a young person with Down syndrome can burst through when properly supported.

That support started at a very young age; his family first got in touch with the UpsideDowns Education Trust when Nikolai was just 18 months old. UpsideDowns was able to provide the family with access to regular, individualised speech and language therapy sessions to help the toddler discover ways to communicate.

“The challenges for any child that can’t communicate is frustration,” says Nikolai’s mum. “We were very grateful to have the experience of a therapist to scaffold other forms of communication for us while Nikolai’s speech developed, which alleviated a lot of the frustration and allowed inclusion at Kindergarten and Primary School.”

Thanks to speech and language therapy, Nikolai’s family have celebrated many communication milestones; his first word, stringing several words together, successful full sentences. In his session these days, Nikolai is refining his conversational skills so he can continue developing amazing relationships.  

“I love watching Nikolai interact with his friends, seeing him laugh and be heard,” says mum. “Nikolai can go into a shop and purchase an item and communicate with the assistant independently.”

Equipped with the communication skills he has worked hard over the years to hone, Nikolai finished school with Year 13 last year and is now enjoying the world of work experience, which he attends four days a week without needing support. He is quickly picking up the skills needed for kitchen work as well as serving customers in a retail environment, including operating the EFTPOS machine.

Nikolai’s achievements are down to his personal drive, the loving support of his family, and the remarkable skill and care of his speech and language therapist. The UpsideDowns Education Trust is honoured to have walked alongside Nikolai through these years of progress.

“How do you describe to people, so they understand the lifeline the Trust’s funding has given us?” Nikolai’s mum wonders. “It has made such a positive impact in our lives, and we are very humbled by the kindness and generosity of others. It takes a village to raise a child, and the UpsideDowns Education Trust is our village.”

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Words and images supplied by UpsideDowns