Tyler our little boy is amazing. He's loving, funny, crazy and loves to be around his family and friends, oh and he happens to have Down Syndrome. Tyler will always have Down Syndrome and that doesn't matter to us. He is who he is and we love him just the way he is.

However Tyler's development is a little slower than a typical child. He started walking at 2 years 5 months old and at the age of 3 Tyler is still for the most part non verbal. He does a small number of signs and can say a couple of words when he wants to.

Tyler is a sensory seeking boy but can get over stimulated at times. He does not cope well with loud noises, busy environments...... Over the last few months, we have experienced Tyler becoming over stimulated by large crowds and noise - such as you'd find at a public soft play area or at the Sea Life Center in Birmingham.

My husband and I have discussed the options and we would love to create a safe and private sensory environment for him to escape too. We have room in our garden for an outdoor playhouse / cabin which could be transformed into a suitable area to provide him with a safe, sensory environment he can use to calm down/chill out in and generally be himself. Tyler also has lots of friends who would also benefit from Tyler's sensory room so our hope is it would not just benefit him, but also a number of other amazing children with Down Syndrome in the local community.

As always, we were truly shocked and humbled when we were approached about the charity football match and the proposal that it be for Tyler. We never expect nor even consider asking for charity so when it comes along and we can do something like this to help Tyler continue to smile - and in turn we hope continue to make other people smile by sharing his life and experiences - then hopefully it can only be a good thing.

Thank you for any help you can give to this project. Love as always, The Cove Family x