THE POWER OF IGNORING
many children with down syndrome are very social. They often love to receive attention, even if it is negative. if a behavior is not unsafe, try ignoring it and giving no feedback. Sometimes this is enough to get rid of a behavior!
Always speak directly with the person with Down syndrome, not the person with them. Give them time to respond. Take their lead on what support they need to communicate. Know that every person with Down syndrome is unique, with their individual personality, strengths and support needs.
They often have mild to moderate intellectual disability and may have specific challenges with attention span, verbal memory, and expressive communication. Behavioral problems such as stubbornness, impulsivity, and temper tantrums may be more common in children with Down syndrome.
Children and adults with Down syndrome experience all the same emotions everyone experiences, both good and bad. They also experience mental health disorders including depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and others.
Lots of love: How do your raise your child with Down syndrome? The same way you would raise any child: with love, patience, compassion, positive instruction — and adjustments that accommodate your child's special needs. Love them, play with them, encourage them, read to them and take them on social outings.
Children with Down syndrome have a specific impairment in short-term memory for verbal information (i.e. the phonological loop) and this will make processing verbal information and, therefore, learning from listening, especially difficult for them.
Almost one-half of babies with Down syndrome have congenital heart disease (CHD), the most common type of birth defect. CHD can lead to high blood pressure in the lungs, an inability of the heart to effectively and efficiently pump blood, and cyanosis (blue-tinted skin caused by reduced oxygen in the blood).
Most kids with Down syndrome will live a normal life
Although they will experience learning and developmental delays — and possibly health problems — children born with Down syndrome can grow up to be independent.
Common behavior problems such as aggression, tantrums and "noncompliance" are not part of DS-ASD.
Typically, these children have a much harder time learning to talk (expressive language) than with understanding what they hear (receptive language). On average, children with Down syndrome start using words around 16 months of age—about 6 months later than other children.
Down syndrome varies in severity among individuals, causing lifelong intellectual disability and developmental delays. It's the most common genetic chromosomal disorder and cause of learning disabilities in children. It also commonly causes other medical abnormalities, including heart and gastrointestinal disorders.
If left untreated, it can affect physical and mental wellbeing. The most common condition for people with Down syndrome is an under-active thyroid, which is known as hypothyroidism. The symptoms of this condition include: Lethargy.
Behavior Changes in Childhood and Adolescence
The behavioral challenges seen in children with Down syndrome are usually not particularly different from those seen in typically developing children. However, they may occur at a later age and last longer.
Babies with Down's syndrome are like any newborn babies.
They'll be eating, sleeping, crying, and needing love and cuddles just like all babies. Some babies with Down's syndrome might need extra help. This could be with things like feeding.
Adults with Down syndrome are at increased risk of depression, hypothyroidism, and Alzheimer dementia (AD) as they age, all of which can cause behaviour changes.
So, are Down syndrome and autism the same thing or the same disorder? No. They are distinct disorders with different causes that may show some similar symptoms, but also differences.
Mosaicism, or mosaic Down syndrome, is diagnosed when there is a mixture of two types of cells. Some have the usual 46 chromosomes, and some have 47. Those cells with 47 chromosomes have an extra chromosome 21. Mosaicism is usually described as a percentage.
Although many children with Down syndrome have physical and mental limitations, they can live independent and productive lives well into adulthood. About one half of children with Down syndrome are born with heart problems, including atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, and endocardial cushion defects.
Many children with Down syndrome can acquire useful levels of reading ability given structured reading instruction despite having relatively poor language and memory skills (Byrne, MacDonald, Buckley, 2002).
Children with Down syndrome usually learn and progress more slowly than most other children. However, not all areas of development are equally affected.
Most adults with Down syndrome are aware they have Down syndrome. Children with Down syndrome live ordinary lives filled with extraordinary needs. You cannot have mild or severe Down syndrome. Either you have it or you do not.