Welcome to Little Hiccups

Little Hiccups is a Leeds based, award winning support group that has been set up by parents who have children with additional needs and disabilities.

Seventeen years ago Linsay, the founder of Little Hiccups gave birth to her little boy, full of the joys of becoming a parent and filled with all of the dreams and aspirations for their lives ahead…. those dreams were shattered just a few days afterwards as they very nearly lost their boy. They spent the following weeks in PICU before finally bringing their son home, only to keep returning to the LGI as the extent of his injuries came apparent. Jack had been left with scarring all over his brain, resulting in him having severe cortical visual impairment, he cannot sit, stand, hold up his head, or use his hands. He cannot speak (though he can certainly vocalise and express his teenage strops! He is fed via a gastrostomy, has a very difficult to treat form of Epilepsy called Lennox Gastaut Syndrome which means he has 20-30 seizures a day of every different kind and his condition is life limiting. All that said, he is the most loving and inspirational boy we have ever met.”

The journey he has taken Linsay on since then has been a roller coaster. He is also the inspiration behind Little Hiccups. In fact, he is the reason behind the Little Hiccups name. The name came about because when Jack was first born he appeared to be having ‘little hiccups’. We later found out they were seizures  and this was the start of our journey ….

It is through personal experience we recognise the importance of allowing parents and families of a child with an additional needs/disability the opportunity to meet people in similar situations, to make friends and support each other. Little Hiccups can support families that have a child(ren) aged 16 and under with additional needs or a disability.

We know that to every family that this is an individual journey but we also recognise the importance of sharing the events of that journey with other people in similar situations. We offer a range of support from our Outreach Programme for those families that are just not quite ready to come to one of our sessions. But for those that are, we offer a variety of support from Stay n Play to monthly Family Fun Days.