Oral narratives were longer and more complex than written narratives for both groups." (Bird et al
" Meier states the following strengths and weaknesses of students with Down syndrome related to academics: Learning Strengths Strong, short-term visual memory High social/interpersonal intelligence (Meier, 2008) Learning Weaknesses Poor short-term auditory memory Difficulty with basic math skills Mild to moderate hearing loss (Meier, 2008) The work of Fox, Farell and Davis (2004) entitled: "Factors Associated with the Effective Inclusion of Primary-Aged Pupils with Down's Syndrome" reports a study that states findings that effective academic support for children with Down syndrome includes: 1) Schools in which knowledge of the needs of the student with Down syndrome was shared among all staff members; 2) Schools in which teachers and teaching assistants worked in unison to provide appropriate support for these students; and 3) Schools had the necessary support to allow students with Down syndrome to share class-based activities with their peers. (Fox, Farell, and Davis, 2004) Conclusions of the study state: (1) inclusion is more likely to be successful when the class teacher takes a central role in the management of support and the organization of the child's daily educational experience; and (2) the outcomes of inclusion are strongly influenced by the ways in which the teaching assistant works with the classroom teacher
Down is stated to have been the "superintendent of an asylum for children with mental retardation in Surrey, England" at the time the first distinction was made between children "who were cretins (later to be found to have hypothyroidism) and what he referred to as Mongoloids." (Leshin, 2003) in the early years of the twentieth century, much speculation occurred relating to the cause of this syndrome
Down syndrome is a genetic disorder "in which the person has an extra chromosome, 47 instead of the usual 46." (Meier, 2008) the extra chromosome results in "a variety of expressions including the flattened profile, some health issues, and mental retardation, usually only mild or moderate in degree
" A psychological assessment is important because it is used to: (1) identify the child's strengths and weaknesses; (2) determine the best intervention; (2) monitor the progress of the child and the treatment effectiveness; and (4) give parents insight about the child's abilities. (Pulsifer
IMPACT: "Stress and Parenting." An article in Down Syndrome Today (Devenny, 1993) alludes to some of the dynamics that parents go through with reference to their retarded children
Nurses can certainly be of tremendous help to parents in the process of helping them become seekers of knowledge, become actively engaged in networking with other families, and also nurses can help parents integrate their non-retarded children into a program of therapy, using the entire family as a united front to cope with the DS dynamics and issues. ASSESSMENT of INTERVENTION: An article in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (Fey, et al
Those are jobs that can be found in the newspaper or online, that allow the DS person to work without support services; and there are "supported employment" jobs that provide near-constant supervision (or a "job coach") while in the workplace; and thirdly, PREVALENCE of MEDICAL CONDITIONS LINKED to DOWN SYNDROME, and INTERVENTIONS INTO THOSE CONDITIONS: "Alopecia universalis in Down syndrome: Response to therapy." This article, published in the Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology (Sethuraman, et al
It is stated by Shapiro that the reason that is believed to be that most likely for the rise in Down syndrome births is that women are waiting longer to have children and it has been shown that "the prevalence of Down syndrome is five times higher among births to women who are 35 years of age and older." (Shapiro, 2009) Another reason is stated to be due to those with Down syndrome "leading longer, healthier lives