www.downsyndromevictoria.org.au 1300 658 873

Education Professional

In-service

• New parent folder

• Parent support (& network of family

support groups etc)

• Adult support

• Education support service (ESS)

• Volunteers

• Resource Library

• Quarterly journal ‘Voice’, workshops, conferences etc

• Representation of needs of people with DS

What DSV offer

Let’s now answer the question ‘What is Down syndrome?’

• Term to describe collection of features

• It is not new - in 1866 Dr Langdon Down published a paper describing the characteristics of DS

• Biological mistake - occurring at conception

• We know how but not why it occurs

• Produces 3 copies of 21c instead of a pair

• The extra genetic material upsets the normal

gene balance, so we find minor deviations in

every part of the body

What is Down syndrome?

Karyotype 47,XY,21

Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome)

Source: Public Health Genetics, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute

Myth Busting & Facts

There are not varying degrees of Down

syndrome.

The range of achievements varies with

each individual, just like everyone else.

Other General Facts:• Around 60 babies with DS are born in Victoria each year• An estimated 300 babies born in Australia each year• The chance of having a baby with Down syndrome increases with the mothers age

• Intellectual disability

• General delay in development

– Personal and social development

– Language and speech development

– Cognitive development

– Gross and fine motor skills

• Physical characteristics i.e. smaller stature, almond shaped eyes, low muscle tone etc

• Sometimes other medical issues i.e. heart conditions, respitory issues, hearing and sight problems etc

People do not ‘suffer’ from DS.

The average life expectancy is now beyond 60 years.

The effect of that extra chromosome

BUT…A child with Down syndrome has

more in common with every other child than they are

different from them.

Distribution of IQ in children with Down syndrome is as wide as

in typically developing children.

The outlook for today’s children is much

brighter given the increase in:

• Stimulation

• Medical advances

• Life Expectancy

• Education

• Expectations

Yesterday’s children vs. today’s

Benefits of mainstream inclusion

Significant gains in:

• Spoken language

• Reading & writing

• Maths

• General knowledge

• Behavior

• Community inclusion

Planning ahead• Plan early in the year• Get to know the individual child• Include parents as part of the team• Plan adaptations to class curriculum with

Assistant at beginning of each week• Work with partnership services i.e. Education

consultants • Draw on those with experience i.e. past class

teachers and assistants

Supporting learning

• Exceptional strength in visual processing and visual

memory (support everything in classroom visually)

• Generally good social understanding

• With time, good independence and self-help skills

• Significant benefit from peer role models and

positive reinforcement

Inhibiting Learning• Medical and physical issues i.e. hearing, vision• Delayed motor skills• Auditory processing• Short-term memory deficit• Speech and language difficulties (although generally

understand more than able to convey)• Short concentration span• Difficulties with consolidation and retention• Difficulties with generalisation, thinking & reasoning

All this adds up to…

Learning delay and difficulties

Which can lead to…

Difficult behaviours

Behaviour• There are no behaviour problems unique to

Down syndrome

• Behaviour problems are ‘child’ problems and there will be a cause

• Behaviour is communication – so ask ‘what is the child trying to say?’

Analyse the behaviour…not the child

Your role

• Support effective inclusion of the child

• Support the development of skills

• Foster independence

• Model the attitude you expect the child’s peers to show

• Maintain open and honest communication with other staff AND PARENTS

• Students become more accepting and respectful of people whose, gender, ability level, socioeconomic level, ability-disability status, etc. is different from one's own

• They gain an increased ability to relate to more kinds of people

• Develop a more sophisticated ability to imagine other people's points of view

• Gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the different strengths that diverse people can bring to a learning team

• Develop more and deeper friendships

Celebrate diversity – why?

‘Just like you, kids with Down syndrome’…..

• Come from different sorts of families

• Look like their families

• Have different personalities

• Like to be good at what they do

• Need help sometimes

• Like to do things themselves, in their own time and in their own way

• Want to have friends

• Don’t like being left out

Ideas for classroom awareness

Please watch your language

Tim has Down syndrome

He is a child with Down syndrome

He is not ‘a Down syndrome’

And finally…

• Think ‘child’ not ‘Down syndrome’(See the person first)

• Think ‘difference’ not ‘disability’

Some suggested further resources • Teaching by design – using your computer to create materials for

students with learning differences Kimberly Voss • Teaching Reading to Children with Down syndrome Patricia Logan Oelwein

• Children with Down’s syndrome A guide for Teachers & Learning Support Assistants in Mainstream Primary & Secondary Schools – Stephanie Lorenz

• Practical Teaching Strategies in Numeracy for children with learning difficulties - Dr John Munro

• Fine Motor Skills in Children with Down syndrome – M Bruni

• Gross Motor Skills in Children with Down syndrome – P Winders

• Communication Skills in Children with Down syndrome – Libby Kumin

• Where to from here? – including students with Down syndrome in primary schools - Information for teachers – Down syndrome Association of Queensland. (available from the DSAV)

• Down syndrome in Practice – Primary School Inclusion DVD - Downsed

• Where’s Chimpy? – Picture Book by Berniece Rabe/Albert Whitman Prairie Book

• We’ll Paint the Octopus Red – Picture Book by Sephanie Stuve-Bodeen/Woodbine House

• Our Brother has Down’s Syndrome – An introduction for children, Picture book – by Shelley Cairo/Annick Press Ltd

• Living with Down syndrome – Individual stories – by Jenny Bryan/RSVP

• My friend Isabelle - by Eliza Woloson and Bryan Gough

• Henry and Amy – by Stephen Michael King

Some books for children

Down Syndrome Victoria219 Napier Street, Fitzroy

Ph: 1300 658 873Email: info@dsav.asn.au

Web: www.dsav.asn.au

Membership: $55 Service Providers$25 Family (free for 1st year)FREE Concession holders