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Centre wraps Emery in love and support

Emery Cooper has been a regular at McKenzie Centre in Hamilton for nearly a year and her progress has given parents Kathleen and Stefan hope for their daughter’s future.Born in October 2020, Emery is the Te Awamutu couple’s third child after Myla, 10, and Arlo, 7.When she was about a year old, she was still not crawling or rolling so Kathleen took her to a physiotherapist.“Around 14 months old she regressed in her speech and social skills. She stopped babbling, she no longer looked anyone ...

How the TIDD Foundation supports Assistive Technology

THE TIDD FOUNDATION has supported McKenzie Centre since 1996. Every year we have received funds from the foundation and we have used these to support our social worker, playgroups and in particular Assistive Technology at the centre.Assistive Technologies (AT) include specialised access to computers such as touch screens, switch interfaces to enable scanning, switch adapted mice, large customised mice and big keyboards. Specialised software and apps loaded on hardware assist children with fine a...

Parent Led Playgroup Initiative

The increasing number of children needing support in the early years is leading to longer waiting lists for assessment and intervention. Intervening at the earliest stage provides the child and family with greater opportunities for positive outcomes. In order to address the larger number of referrals to McKenzie Centre and to be responsive to our mission we began a weekly parent led playgroup in December 2022. This playgroup is facilitated by Linda Depledge Brooker, tuakana, with the support of...

Elijah's learning journey

Elijah Tonihi runs inside McKenzie Centre and straight towards the musical instruments beaming with delight when she activates the drum beat on the electric piano and touches the keys. Watching on are parents Telena Tonihi and Sean Siakia of Pukete in Hamilton who marvel at the journey their 3 ½ year old daughter has been on since she started at the centre in May 2022. “She wasn’t really crawling, it was like a butt shuffle, we were wondering what was going on, it was really odd,�...

Website revamped

We now have a gallery of beautiful photos on our newly relaunched website thanks to our physiotherapist Susie Nyika and Stacey Baker, one of our past parents and team members. View here.Our McKenzie Centre website is the primary way we communicate with our community of whānau and supporters so using photos and videos is an essential part of that communication.The front page now features a stunning photo of Oliver and we hope to rotate other photos of our children regularly.Another new feature o...

Centre roof gets painting boost

When the McKenzie Centre roof gets a much needed repaint in April, a donation from the Legacy Trust will help pay for it.Legacy Funerals Hamilton branch manager Jordan Goss confirmed the $1500 grant before Christmas and visited McKenzie Centre, when the first term started last week, to congratulate them and have a tour of the centre.It has been more than 15 years since McKenzie Centre’s roof in Hamilton has been painted and Business Support coordinator Lillian Martin knows how important it is ...

Matariki Night 2022

McKenzie Centre came together as a community to celebrate Matariki on Thursday 16 June. Matariki is a good time to remember that it’s a time to connect. Events included music, craft table, toy/clothes swap table, wish tree, photo booth and most importantly, kai.About 50 people attended. It was lovely for the families who attend to meet families who attend on other days.It was also nice to have families come in with siblings (of the children who attend) for them to see where their brother or si...

A safe place for all

When Kuljeet Singh and Maia Kawana first took their sons Carlos and Ashwin to McKenzie Centre in Hamilton, they knew they had finally found a safe place for their boys. After a speech and language therapist assessed the boys, paediatrician David Newman diagnosed them with autism and told Kuljeet and Maia about McKenzie Centre. Carlos was 3½ and Ashwin was 2. “We were just typical new parents trying to find answers; we thought Carlos had hearing problems because he had speech delays,” said M...

Quiz Nights a Family Affair

Leanne Moyes wanted to do something special for the McKenzie Centre when her granddaughter Tanner Thomson started at Glenview School four years ago. “Because they did such a lot for Tanner, I was thinking of buying something for the centre and (daughter) Megan said she was thinking along the same lines but then suggested organising a quiz night instead.” When Leanne said that sounded like a good idea, Megan gave her the job of getting the prizes and so every year since, Leanne has pounded th...

Education Support workers team leader retires

It’s the children and the things they do for the first time Early Intervention teacher, Teresa Blake, will miss when she retires after almost 15 years at McKenzie Centre.“You get such a buzz out of seeing the children do something new. The slightest thing they do. It might be small but it’s still significant,” she says.Teresa is a visiting specialist and ESW team leader at McKenzie Centre, a leadership role she took on three years ago.Teresa has been supporting and mentoring Education Su...

Making a difference in children’s lives

Karen Berry knows every day she goes to work she’s doing a job she loves and making a difference in the lives of the children she works with.As an education support worker for McKenzie Centre, Karen spends her days with children who have varying degrees of learning support needs.Some children are autistic, some have Down’s Syndrome, others are nonverbal or in a wheelchair.It varies, she says. “What you see from where they start from and when they leave at five or six years old is amazing.�...

Children to benefit from new investment fund

Children with disabilities will be the ultimate benefactors of a new philanthropic investment fund established with a Waikato community foundation.McKenzie Centre in Hamilton, part of Enrich Group in Waipā, supports children who have disabilities and their families to have full and fulfilling lives in communities that value them.Established in 1982 with donations from the McKenzie Education Foundation and the Telethon Trust, it has now secured a resilient ongoing income stream by putting capita...

Family Peer Connectors Model

16 December 2021 – McKenzie Centre has developed and delivered a Family Peer Connector model as part of the Child Development Service Improvement Programme.McKenzie Centre delivers child development services in the Waikato region.The model brings together a group of Family Peer connectors to build family capacity and contribute to better futures. This approach reflects their overarching family-centred practice.McKenzie Centre have worked collaboratively to see Family Peer connectors recognised...

Working in partnership with families

For many years McKenzie Centre has been successfully providing a range of services for autistic children.Autism is a life-long neurodevelopmental condition that can cause significant social, communication and behavioural challenges.Put simply autistic people see, hear and feel the world differently to other people.Autism is a spectrum condition; this means that some people are more affected than others.At McKenzie Centre we are continuously looking at how we can improve our services to support o...

Fresh Look for McKenzie Centre

McKenzie Centre has taken on a new ‘look’ as part of our exciting 2020 rebrand.Over the years, we have had a few different looks, and we have loved them all.But recently, we have joined forces with the Enrich Group, and our new style aligns visually, and has consistent imagery, with the group’s brand as a whole.The overall essence of our current McKenzie Centre brand has been carried forward. This includes retaining the core brandmark visual concept and colours, but refreshing them so that...