Phonological Awareness InterventionProgram, is based on strategies thatdraw on memory and visualprocessing skills.

Structured Program for trainingautonomy

Copyright © 2009.

Portuguese DownSyndrome Association

Santarém HighSchool ofManagement

Financial Support

Portuguese Departmentfor Rehabilitation ofDisabled People

Comprehensive Intervention in Peoplewith Down Syndrome

| Palha, M. | Andrade, D. | Pinto, M. | Condeço, T. | Cotrim, L. | Martins, S. |

| Barateiro, R. | Costa, F. |

Portuguese Down Syndrome Association - Child Developmental Centre Differenceswww.appt21.org.pt | geral@appt21.org.pt

The Portuguese Association for Trisomy 21 (APPT21) was founded on the 1st of October 1990 with themission to provide healthcare to children stricken with this genetic disorder.

In the 90´s, the remarkable successes achieved with the introduction of the most up-to-date evaluationand intervention methods in trisomy 21 led us to apply them to other disabilities.

The institution started to work on a broader range of pathologies and developing specific InterventionPrograms to meet the needs.

Today is one of the most innovative and up-to-date child development centres in Europe, thanks to thework of a devoted multi-disciplinary team of professionals:�developmental paediatricians, child neurologists, child psychiatrists, public health practitioners,epidemiologists, educational psychologists, clinical psychologists, special education teachers, occupationaltherapists and speech/language therapists.

Nowadays, the team works at the DIFERENÇAS Child Development Centre � an autonomous branchof the APPT21 - providing a service to more that 9.000 children, (over 1200 under direct weekly intervention,both at home and at the Centre) the remainder being under indirect support (due to geographicallimitations).

Besides development consultations, reliable evaluations methods, specialized diagnostic instruments,the Centre also implements specific Intervention Programs to address every type of development disorder,to help educators, therapists and parents of children with developmental disabilities.

Achieved Work Projects within the field ofResearch & Development

Diferenças - ChildDevelopment Centre

Nasturtium - Education,Health and Wellbeing

JANSSEN-CILAG

Partners

POSTER DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE AT WWW.APPT21.ORG.PT/POSTERS/COMP_INTERV.PDF

P h e n o m e n o l o g y o f C h i l dDevelopment (Computer Programdesigned to integrate clinicalsymptoms and signs in ChildDevelopment)

Computer Program designed tointegrate clinical symptoms andsigns in Child Development.

Augmentative Speech: StructuredProgram for sign language training

The "Sign Language Workshop" offersa wide range of examples of initiallyfunctional and ultimately symbolicgestures,intended to be an essentialsupport for parents and therapistsworking with chi ldren with Downsyndrome in early intervention in orderto promote early interactions andcommunicative skills.Each sign is depicted in differentformats: text, sound, image, and video.3 language options are available:Portuguese, English and Spanish.

All different, but all very beautiful!!!

The main purpose of the NumberSkills Intervention Program is tosupport those working with childrenand youngsters with Trisomy 21, inorder to promote number skills in afamily and educational environment.An educational software, �MimocasNumbers�, was also developed aswell as a set of worksheets.

Find the letters by hear the bit sounds

Read through the syllables visual recognition

The "Learn to Read to SupportLanguage" Program was designedto improve working memory,vocabulary acquisition, sentencebuilding, semantic understanding,textual understanding, access to thecurriculum and functional readingand writing.An educational software was alsodeveloped as well as a set ofworksheets.

All with di f ferences, but al l pr inces and princesses

"Mimocas Games" � educationalsoftware designed to meet themotivational skills and visual abilitiesof children with Down syndrome.

Parent�s Group 21�Our mission: help all parents to beable to believe that their children cansurmount all obstacles and riseabove any expectation�.

DIFFERENCES CENTRE IN NUMBERS

+ 9.000 children, with and withoutdevelopmental co-morbidity, underintervention countrywide+ 1.500 children under regular directintervention (institution and/or home)+ 1.200 children with Trisomy 21 indirect and indirect interventionprograms � one of the largest casuisticin the world+500 chi ldren wi th cogni t iveimpairments+ 1000 children with Asperger S. andother Autism Spectrum Disorders+ 1500 children with Dyslexia and otherLearning Disorders+ 700 children with Speech/LanguageDisorders+ 2000 children with Hyperactivity andAttention Deficit Disorders.

Structured Program for Motor skillstraining (in collaboration with Aveiro�sUniversity)

Structured Programs to DevelopCommunication/Language skills:- Augmentative Speech: StructuredProgram for sign language training (Incollaboration with the Aveiro�sUniversity)- Structured Program for trainingCommunication skills with the aid ofpictures.- Structured Program for training Motor-Verbal Programming.- Structured Program for training AuditiveDiscrimination

Structured Programs for TeachingReading Skills:- Phonological awareness- Rhyming- Recall Memory- Reading Comprehension

Structured Program for training Socialskills

Structured Program for training VisualDiscrimination/Perception

Structured Program for TeachingGrammar

Structured Program for training earlyMaths skills

Structured Program for trainingSemantic skills

Structured Programs for TeachingWritting skills:- Early writing skills- Graphomotor skills- Orthography

Structured program for trainingspeech skills (discourse abilities)

Structured Program for trainingautonomy

Structured Program for training Socialskills

Behaviour Intervention

Classroom Strategies

Family group therapy

Methods and Study Techniques

Structured Program for AttentionControl

Strategies for Sexual Education

Career Counselling and job finding

Atelier for conception and productionof educational materials

Social Intervention

Events and Workshops

"Written Words" � enhancinghandwriting skills and curriculumaccess

This structured program is aimed atteaching writing and handwritingskills through enhancing perceptive,graphomotor, morpho-syntactic andlinguistics skills.

Example from stage II. Some steps to write thechild�s first name.

�Learning to Move� is an audio-visualteaching tool, where organized setsof activities and strategies werepurposefully designed to develop thefine and gross motor skills of childrenwith Special Education Needs.It�s a multimedia guide whereby thedevelopment of fine and gross motorskills are achieved through a rangeof activities. Step-by-step instructionsare given regarding the strategiesthat best suit the objective to bereached.

Other iniciatives- Support to pregnant women bearinga fetus diagnosed with Trisomy 21- Organized leisure activities forholidays and week ends- Legal advise- Training workshops

Family / Community Support

- Breaking the news- Parents mutual support groups- Advice on rights, benefits andavailable support- Contacts with other parents�associations

IIn defense of their rights:

- Full Integration � at school- In the community- Make leisure activities and sportopportunities available- The right to housing- The right to sexuality- The right to a family- The right to bear children

Individually tailored resources:according to child�s interests,motivation, abilities and educationalneeds.

Communication & ArtDepartmentAveiro�s University

Calouste GulbenkianFoundation