Testimonials

January 2023

A Child With Autism

Our 6yr old son has autism and he has been going to Helen on a weekly basis for many months now.

Helen is very professional whilst also very approachable, enthusiastic and easy-going, all of these strong characteristics showed from the first moment I spoke to her about my son over the phone and have continued throughout all the appointments.  She liaised with his class and resource teachers so that everyone is working together which has proven beneficial.

Helen developed a great rapport with my son very quickly and got to know his positive strengths as well as his weaknesses. In the following months his self esteem and confidence along with his ability to chat and engage in conversation have greatly improved. 

Her commitment and interest in my son’s growth and confidence is apparent at every visit and she’s always conscious of his wellbeing she is a wonderful role model and has no issues with dropping herself to sit on a damp step to catch and embrace a very excited 6 year old into her arms for a genuine two way hug.

Helen is an absolute natural with children and has a great way of putting not just my son at ease but has also helped my confidence and abilities through her guidance and expert knowledge.

I shouldn’t forget mention that her facilities are very well equipped and the room is immaculately clean, fresh, comfortable and most important of all child friendly.

I can’t praise or thank Helen enough for helping bring out the best in our son and teaching us how to deal with the hard stuff.

Michelle Coyne
Co. Galway

Nov 2021

A child with dyspraxia

To whom it may concern,

 

Our eight-year-old son has a diagnosis of dyspraxia and was struggling with his school work and was really behind in his reading.

He has been attending Helen for the past year and he has made great progress. He loves going to Helen and his self-esteem and confidence has really improved.

Helen has a lovely child friendly room with lots of toys and equipment.

Helen is natural with children and has a great way of putting people at ease while building up their skill set.

 

Norma and Tom McDonagh

Rosscahill, Co. Galway

 

Child with learning difficulty

Jan 2019

To whom it may concern,

Our daughter Lauren started going to Helen in August having difficulty with maths. she has improved so much she is now able to keep up with the rest of the class.

Lauren loves going to Helen once a week and has she has gained so much confidence.

Helen makes maths fun and explains it very well.

I would highly recommended Helen to anyone.

Kind Regards,

Sharon

Sharon - Child with learning difficulty

A six year old with intellectual disability

19th July 2018

Our son is 6 years old with an intellectual disability. He is in senior infants in main stream school where he has great support from the school, however we felt that he needed additional support from someone who was used to dealing with children like him.
At the time of meeting Helen he was struggling in a lot of areas but we decided to focus mainly on prewriting skills , numerical & the alphabet.

We started to visit Helen on a weekly basis where she introduced new programmes such as Handwriting without tears and Numicon in order to teach our son in a more visual way.She also suggested that she meet his resource teacher at school to ensure that she is always working on the same programmes as school to keep consistency and avoid overload and confusion with my son.

As we do not drop him off, Helen communicates with us via a notebook and sends us regular videos of his work. This communication is invaluable to see his quick progression.Currently he is able to do 6 of the 8 prewriting skills , he has learned a lot of the alphabet via the handwriting without tears system and he can now write his name. He also recognizes the numbers and can count from 1 to 5.

Helen understands our son, she chats to him about his day and his very comfortable with her. She knows how to get him to concentrate and rewards him with stickers. All of this is vital in his learning development.

We will continue to work with Helen over the summer months as the work she is doing is invaluable and the rewards are so tangible. We are so happy to have found her and would highly recommend her.

Yours Sincerely,
Maeve – Galway.

Maeve, Galway - A six year old with intellectual disability

 A child with Autism

10th July 2016

Helen provides a fantastic service and I would highly recommend her to any parent of a child with special needs.

Our 8 yr old son has autism and he has been going to Helen on a weekly basis since April of this year.  He loved going right from the word go and continues to enjoy his session every week, which is a small miracle for a child who can get very anxious and stressed with new experiences and with meeting new people. 

Helen very quickly got to know our son’s strengths and weaknesses and set about targeting the areas he needed most help with. It is all done in a child-friendly, fun way and he always comes away which a smile on his face. As a result, our son’s confidence and his ability to chat have greatly improved.  So much so that while away on holidays recently a stranger told us that our son was ‘a lovely little chatterbox’!

As a fulltime working Mum with two children it is impossible for me to do all that I am supposed to be doing with our son to improve his communication, social and gross and fine motor skills but Helen has definitely helped to ease the load. 

I only wish I had discovered her years ago.

God Bless you Helen!

A Moycullen Mom

 

A Moycullen Mum - Mother of a child with Autism

A child with communications difficulties

May 7th 2016

We are very fortunate to have found Helen Mullarkey through a friend whose little boy is also attending Helen’s service.

My little girl is 3½ years old now and has a speech delay. We started attending Helen’s Special Needs Tutor service in January 2016. Already we have seen dramatic improvements in her speech as well as her confidence, it’s wonderful.

We attend twice per week and my daughter loves Helen and the play therapy sessions.

We are so grateful for the empathy, support and truly positive contribution Helen provides on a continuous basis.

Helen goes that extra mile to make sure our little girl reaches her full potential. Her recommendations are also invaluable, ie phonics, CD’s with music and action, visual aids, music and drama.

We are so grateful to Helen for the wonderful difference she is making in our lives. We can’t thank you enough Helen.

From the heart,

A very grateful Salthill family

 

A very grateful Salthill family - A child with communications difficulties

A child with Down Syndrome (2 ½)

May 15th 2015

I think that one of the significant things that our weekly sessions with Helen is that it has given my son Jack independence.   Helen’s work is a reflection on her passion for life and for children. 

She brings a sense of warmth, openness and compassion to her work as a tutor.  My little boy has readily connected with her and has benefited enormously from the wonderful facility that she provides.  

I feel that the skills he is learning through play and song are ones which are helping to cultivate a deep foundation of self-awareness, clarity and confidence.  Helen truly is meant to be in a profession that supports and promotes children who need a little extra.

Yours Sincerely,

Nicolette

 

Nicolette - Mothere of a child with Down Syndrome

A child with Autism and severe speech and language impairment

July 14th 2013

It was our blessing that we accidentally found out about Helen.

Our son (9 ½ years old) has a problem with communication and speech. He needs to do the work recommended by a speech and language therapist every day.  It could be very hard for a parent, and to have someone like Helen is a great relief.

Throughout the game and in a child-friendly environment our son learns how to communicate and have more confidence. His speech and language, as well as memory thrive. Derbyshire language is a great tool which she uses.

I must point out that Helen is a wonderful and friendly person who always has time to explain what they did during the session. Through our conversations and during the sessions, Helen found out about him a lot in a short time, which it has made the sessions even better.

Thanks Helen! 

Mum from Galway

 

Mum from Galway - Mother of a child with Autism

A child with Down Syndrome

20th October 2012

My son Adrian is two and a half and has Down syndrome. Adrian first started attending Helen’s sessions at the Clann family resource centre in Oughterard.

Adrian now attends Helen’s for one hour once a week and his face lights up as soon as he arrives at Helen’s, he really loves the sessions. Adrian has progressed enormously from Helen’s input. His hand eye coordination and fine motor movement has greatly improved. 

Adrian was medically very unwell for the first year of his life and his gross motor movement and speech and language development were further delayed as a result of him being so unwell, since working with Helen he is almost walking freely and his levels of communication through sound production are much improved.

I cannot recommend the service Helen provides highly enough

It is a wonderful child friendly environment where learning happens the way it should in a fun and positive way.

Yours Sincerely

Gillian Shaw, Moycullen

 

Gillian Shaw, Moycullen - Mother of a child with Down Syndrome

A child with Hurlers Syndrome

16th October 2012

To whom it may concern

Our little girl has a condition known as Hurlers Syndrome which affects both her physical and mental development. This resulted in her missing a lot of pre-school and thus falling behind in certain areas especially her ability to pick up, hold and use crayons/pencils and to focus on classroom activities.

I was recommended by the Clann Resource centre in Oughterard, to get in touch with Helen Mullarkey. Since starting her weekly sessions with Helen, we have noticed huge improvements with her concentration and fine motor skills.

She is now in Primary school and these sessions have helped her complete written work sheets and colouring activities given to her in class.

We are delighted to have such a service in our area and would have no hesitation in recommending Helen to other parents of children with special needs.

Yours Sincerely,
Margaret Geoghegan, Oughterard

Margaret Geoghegan, Oughterard - Mother of a child with Hurlers Syndrome