What is Down Syndrome?
I wrote an essay about Down Syndrome as an essay assignment about a disability of my choice for my Intro to Exceptionalities course in my first semester at Bucks County Community College. In honor of Down Syndrome Awareness/Acceptance Month, I have decided to upload it as a blog post since the content is related to what I post on my disability advocacy influencer page.
CONTENT WARNING: I would like to mention that I am not a medical doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, or therapist and I am sharing this content for educational purposes only. Social media should never be used as a substitute for mental nor medical health care. If you suspect that you or your child have any developmental concerns, it is okay to get help, and I highly recommend seeking help from a medical doctor, psychologist, therapist, and/or other professional who is qualified to do so.
Down Syndrome is the most common intellectual disability. Down Syndrome is an intellectual disability (also known as a genetic syndrome) that causes an extra chromosome in the "twenty-first pair of chromosomes" (Hallahan, Kauffman, and Pullman 1944). This disability not only affects its individuals' intellect, but many other aspects of their lives. Down Syndrome affects individuals with the diagnosis, their families, and teachers in positive and negative ways.
History:
There are many important characteristics about Down Syndrome and the needs of the students who have it. Down Syndrome used to be referred to as "mental retardation", but this term has been outdated since 2013 due to changes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM); it is now referred to as usually either an intellectual disability or a "mental deficiency, mental subnormality, mental challenge, or developmental disability" (Warren & Wright 2013).
Types of Down Syndrome and Symptoms:
There are four types of Down Syndrome, which are trisomy 21, mosaic Down Syndrome, translocation Down Syndrome, and mosaic translocation Down Syndrome; trisomy 21 is "the most common form of Down Syndrome" (Hallahan, Kauffman, and Pullman 1944). Down Syndrome not only always affects the intellect of the individuals who have it, but their physical appearance and sometimes their health as well. Their eyes have "thick epicanthal folds in the corners of the eyes, making the eyes appear to slant upward slightly at the outside corners" (Hallahan, Kauffman, and Pullman 1944). In addition, they are short in height, have "decreased muscle tone (hypoxia), hyper flexibility of the joints," a small mouth that causes their tongue to stick out, and small and wide hands with a "singular palmar decrease" (Taylor, Richards, & Brady 2005). Youth with Down Syndrome are at risk for many medical problems in their early childhood and adulthood, such as "heart defects, leukemia, gastrointestinal malformations, infections, otitis media, poor vision, musculoskeletal, and many other problems" (Roizen 2003). The definite cause of Down Syndrome remains unknown with many theoretical causes.
Needs of People with Down Syndrome at School, Home, and in Communities:
The needs of individuals with Down Syndrome affect their families and teachers in many ways. Due to students with Down Syndrome needing specialized instruction, their possible general education teachers, may need to add something to their instructional practice that they never used before or may need to modify it somehow. One of the ways that individuals with Down Syndrome typically learn best is through modeling; so, their teachers could model what they are teaching in the lesson when teaching their whole group of students or one-on-one with the student with Down Syndrome. Parents/guardians of students with Down Syndrome will most likely have to model how to do certain tasks for their child too. For example, when they teach them how to brush their teeth, they should show them what materials they will need in order to brush their teeth. They may model putting toothpaste on the toothbrush so that they know where to put it on the toothbrush, how much toothpaste they need, and how to put it on the brush. Parents/guardians of youth with Down Syndrome can use modeling for other tasks too such as eating and preparing meals, other types of hygiene, getting dressed, and household chores.
Besides the way that individuals with Down Syndrome learn and understand, their medical health, behaviors, and social life affect their families too. Seeing their child go through risks that affect their health must be very stressful and could even be very depressing for their parents/guardians to watch. According to a study completed about mixed groups with disabilities, mothers "experience more stress" about dealing with their child with Down Syndrome than fathers (Bristol et al., 1988). Fathers experience stress about their child with Down Syndrome too though such as concerns about "the costs of caring for a child with disabilities and what the child will mean to the family as a whole" (Price-Bonham and Addison 1978). Mothers tend to be more concerned about "the slowing rates of development shown by" their children with Down Syndrome, how to "explain their child's condition to others, and help with childcare" (Hodapp 2007; Bailey et al., 1978). Although, this condition can affect the families and teachers of individuals who have this disability in negative ways, it can also affect them positively too.
It is important for families and teachers to remember the positive and negative parts about disabilities so that they know how to help their children and students with disabilities, disabled students, and differently-abled students when they are struggling and so that these individuals know that their disability does not define them. Families and teachers should be very specific in their instructions when explaining things to their children or students with Down Syndrome. Teachers should show inclusion and acceptance of their students with any disabilities when they are one on one with them and in front of their peers of all abilities not only to set a good example of these manners, but because it is the right thing to do. Families should do the same. Schools and teachers should incorporate "children with learning difficulties struggle with how to make friends" in teaching inclusion and acceptance to students of all abilities (Gedge 2015). It is important to keep all information about Down Syndrome in mind when dealing with anyone with this disability.
Celebrities with Down Syndrome:
- Matt Cobrink (oldest person with Down Syndrome; 58 years old)
- Chris Burke (American actor most known for his role as Charles "Corky" Thatcher in a television series called Life Goes On)
- Lauren Potter (American actress most known for her role as a high school student with Down Syndrome named Becky Jackson in a television series called Glee)
- Megan Bomgaars (entrepreneur, international motivational speaker, #DontLimitMe viral video speaker, first former cheerleader with Down Syndrome in Colorado, former reality TV personality from A&E's docuseries called Born This Way, founder of Megology, children's book author)
- John Tucker [rapper (watch his Shake Your Booty music video😂, former reality TV personality from A&E's docuseries called Born This Way)]
- Sean McElwee (founder of Seanese, entrepreneur, former reality TV personality from A&E's docuseries called Born This Way, motivational speaker, YouTuber)
- Rachel Osterbach (motivational speaker, disability rights advocate on the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities, former reality TV personality from A&E's docuseries called Born This Way)
- Steven Clark (motivational speaker, former reality TV personality from A&E's docuseries called Born This Way)
- Cristina Sanz (social media influencer, former reality TV personality from A&E's docuseries called Born This Way)
- Elena Ashmore (former reality TV personality from A&E's docuseries called Born This Way)
- Zach Gottsagen (American actor most known for his role as Zak in the film called Peanut Butter Falcon)
- Karen Gaffney (disability rights advocate, first person with Down Syndrome to graduate with an honorary doctorate degree)
- Madeline Stuart (model)
- Sofia Jirau (Victoria's Secret model)
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Citations
1. Hallahan, D. P., Kauffman, J. M., & Pullen, P. C. (2014). Exceptional Learners: An Introduction to Special Education. (13th ed.). Chapter 5: Learners with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. (pgs. 90-92). Pearson.
2. Gedge, N. (2015). The inclusion illusion. TES: Times Educational Supplement, (5137), 26-30.
3. Hodapp, R. M. (2007). Families of persons with Down Syndrome: New perspectives, findings, and research and service needs. Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 13(3), 279-287. doi:10.1002/mrdd.20160
4. "How to Raise a Child With Down Syndrome: Advice and Resources." Parents.com. (11 June 2015). https://www.parents.com/health/down-syndrome/down-syndrome-resources/
5. Warren, S. A. & Wright, E. B. (2013). Mental retardation (now known as intellectual developmental disabilities). In C. R. Reynolds, K. J. Vannest, & E. Fletcher-Janzen (Eds.), Encyclopedia of special education: a reference for the education of children, adolescents, and adults with disabilities and other exceptional individuals (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118660584.ese1542
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