Down's Syndrome is quickly becoming a more common disorder in America. I'm sure we have all heard the radio commercials about the statistics. How does a child with Down's Syndrome develop his or her language though? It is crucial that a person with Down's Syndrome learn how to communicate so he or she can function in society.
First of all, to understand a Down's Syndrome child, you must know that their chronological age does not match their mental age. This means that a child could be six or seven years old, but have the mind of a three year old. For example, at five years old, they begin to have two word utterances and have a vocabulary of about twenty words.
Research has mostly been done on young DS (Down's Syndrome) children. Studies have found that parental speech plays an integral part in language development. Language intervention for a DS child should preferably begin at a young age, because as a DS person becomes older, teaching language becomes even more difficult. Studies have also found that simple sentence structure is used throughout a DS person's lifetime. Usually a DS person uses more stereotypical expressions and responses. In addition, DS people use fewer secondary verbs and indefinite pronouns.
What is your opinion on Down's Syndrome? How can schools better prepare people who have the disorder to function in society?
Research has mostly been done on young DS (Down's Syndrome) children. Studies have found that parental speech plays an integral part in language development. Language intervention for a DS child should preferably begin at a young age, because as a DS person becomes older, teaching language becomes even more difficult. Studies have also found that simple sentence structure is used throughout a DS person's lifetime. Usually a DS person uses more stereotypical expressions and responses. In addition, DS people use fewer secondary verbs and indefinite pronouns.
What is your opinion on Down's Syndrome? How can schools better prepare people who have the disorder to function in society?
11 comments:
I think that it is important for teachers and school personel to work on helping these children to write and speak more clearly. I also think that these children need to feel valued, rather than just feeling like they are outcasts due to their condition. They need to be encouraged to take an active part in the social and academic aspects of public schools. Depending on the severity of the effects of their condition, complete integration may not be the best solution, but they can still maintain a sense of belonging, which leads to higher self-esteem. This, in turn, may help them to feel more confident in their abilities and help them to be more motivated to work harder. This will also improve the quality of the lives of these students.
Because DS is so common in today's schools, it is important for teachers to be trained in how to teach students who have DS. If teachers are better prepared, then they will make the student learn in the most effective way. It is also important that students are still among their peers in some way. They will learn more about speech from the way their fellow peers speak, and thus, learn to become more social. My brother was a part of a program that allowed students to become peer mentors with those students who had DS. It gave both my brother and his mentee a great insight into learning more about each other.
I really do not know that much about Down’s syndrome, but from what I’ve learned in class with the movie, it seems like if the teachers or speech pathologist work with the children enough, there is a way to help their speech. Students with this syndrome should not be viewed as different. They just have a difficulty learning and speaking. The school and teachers should be supportive and helpful with the students to encourage them in their education. I think it would be good if the other students who do not have this disorder learn a bit more about it so they can accept the DS students more.
Acceptance is a huge part of every child's life. This includes the children with Down's Syndrome. If they feel accepted or understood, then they may feel more comfortable in the classroom. Therefore students should be taught about the Syndrome, so that they can better understand how to interact with children with Down's Syndrome.
Teachers should definitely have training for children with learning disabilities. When teachers have training with students who have DS, they will be better prepared to help a child with DS in their classroom. I also think though that maybe sometime during class they could have a separate time to work with a speech pathologist. The film we watched showed that DS children can learn to use their speech so it is understandable, so I think with enough training and learning they would be able to be understood.
I think that different methods need to be applied based on the individual student's capabilities. A high functioning student with DS should be shown support and encouragement in the classroom. A low functioning student with DS should most likely not be integrated into the "regular" classroom setting, and instead be taught by specialists and placed in special programs that will be more capable of ensuring the best possible opportunities for learning and improvement.
My brother, whom is three years older than me has Down Syndrome. This article was a little upsetting to me. One major factor that seems to be missing in these studies is speech between people who both have Down Syndrome, or other types of mental disabilities. People with Down Syndrome have a harder time speaking clearly, largely due to motor skills and the fact that their tounges are normal sized while their mouths are not. When speaking to someone "NR," they often limit their speech because it is harder for NRs to understand. However, I work at a Therapeutic Recreation camp over the summer and there is a large DS population there. When they are all together, or with others who have different types of mental retardation, they talk- A LOT! This is because they understand each other better.
It is also important to be able to read an individual's response to a question asked. For example, my brother drives me crazy because I'll ask him something like "what are you doing?" and he'll answer me "fine" instead of "nothing." But if i press the question like, "No, WHAT are you doing?" he answers the correct way. It's like that for many, many DS people. Often time, if you ask a question in a different way and emphasize key words, their response language is more accurate. And a lot of times, you have keep asking leading questions to get they answer you're searching for. It's really not that they don't have the language, it's you just have to readjust the language YOU use to get them to answer better.
It has been shown that children learn a different language with much less difficulty when they are young, especially around the ages of 2-4. Since Downs Syndrome children develop slower mentally, it is possible that they would be able to pick up language and speech more easily until they are older than that. Perhaps the age range in which most studies are performed should be expanded, or perhaps mental age should be more of a factor than physical age.
Since Down's Syndrome is becoming even more common, it is even more important that more teachers are well educated about it. Since intervention at a very early age is very helpful to kids with Down's Syndrome, the most important thing is that we start helping them early. I liked what everyone has said so far about support groups or where kids with DS can interact with each other. Knowing someone else going through the same thing you are would probably be a great help to them.
I experienced first hand accounts with a Down Syndrome child. DS children just want to be able to feel accepted in our society. Some people think just because a person is different, that means they are stupid and they tend to be judgmental of this person. DS children are very smart, but teachers as well as students need to be very open-minded when working with them. DS children/people need encouragement and should be constantly motivated in and outside the classrom.
In order for children with down syndrom to function at their highest ability I feel they must feel as though they are apart of the class. I say this because if we set high standards for them maybe they will work hard to meet such standards.
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