**This is a fundraising page for Michal, and all funds will be used for professional help (therapies).**

I live at home with my mummy, daddy, and little sister in Surrey. I like playing football with my daddy, and I love Lego and Lego Technic. I am a happy little boy and dream of becoming an engineer when I grow up. In many ways, I am like all other little boys—desperate to learn, play, and make friends. I am full of ideas, fun, kindness, and humor, but I am also frustrated and friendless—trapped in a world where I cannot speak to anyone or fully understand what people are saying.

I am a bright and clever seven-year-old boy with a diagnosis of **Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia** (DVD) and **Apraxia of Speech**, diagnosed by a Speech Consultant. DVD is a rare neurological disorder that affects speech planning and movement. I know what I want to say, but I am unable to produce the sounds, which impacts my speech.

One speech therapy session with a therapist who follows the **Nuffield Dyspraxia Programme** costs £95. I need at least three sessions per week. I also have a language difficulty called **Developmental Language Disorder** (DLD). I need intensive speech therapy to learn how to speak, and this is possible with the right support.

When I was 2.5 years old, I could not make any speech-like sounds at all. Now, I am intelligent and eager to learn and communicate. Speech therapists say I have enormous potential, and with the right therapy, I can go on to live a fairly normal life. But I require very intensive therapy—3-5 sessions a week, each 30 minutes long—with a therapist familiar with the Nuffield Dyspraxia Programme. Each 60-minute session costs £90. Research shows that children with DVD make good progress when therapy is intensive and uninterrupted.

Many children with DVD also have **Motor Dyspraxia**. Although I have an official diagnosis of DVD, Motor Dyspraxia has not yet been officially confirmed by my consultant (though it has been indicated by my Occupational Therapist and other therapists).

I need therapy with an **Occupational Therapist** (ideally once a week) to improve my gross motor skills, self-regulation, and hand skills. A 60-minute session costs £80.

Without the support of an Occupational Therapist specializing in Motor Dyspraxia, I will struggle to develop successful relationships with adults and peers, which could negatively affect my long-term mental health and well-being.

This is why my mummy and daddy are fundraising for me. They want me to receive the therapy I need to help me communicate better and live a more normal life, like other children. We hope to raise enough funds to provide me with the medical care and attention I need, and to support my family in getting the help we have not been able to receive through the NHS system.

Please help us make this happen. Anything you can contribute will be deeply appreciated.

We THANK YOU for your support. It truly means the world to us.

Lots of love!!!

7.5% of all donations to Tree of Hope in relation to this appeal will be allocated to the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope to cover our core operating costs.

If we raise insufficient funds, or surplus funds, then the funds will be used, if appropriate, to fund support for our child’s needs in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objects. If in those circumstances we are unable to use all or part of the funds for the benefit of our child in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objectives, then any funds that cannot be used will be transferred to be used for the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope.