just happens to have Down’s Syndrome
New to this section:
Metabolism An interesting article about differences in metabolic rate in people with Down's Syndrome and advice about activities and health.
Toddlers at the Table An article about encouraging positive interactions with food when developing eating skills, with some sensible suggestions.
Stop Wandering If your child likes to explore, this may be worth considering - ideas vary from simple and useful to some more extreme suggestions.
General information about Down's Syndrome:
'People with Down's Syndrome - Your Questions Answered' is a general leaflet from the Down's Syndrome Association (DSA). The Down's Syndrome Association is a national charity working for people with Down's Syndrome and their families, and they have a huge amount of useful information on their web site.
Down Syndrome International is a UK based international charity, committed to ensuring quality of life and human rights for all individuals with Down's Syndrome.
For new parents
The DSA's 'A new parents guide' leaflet contains a lot of information that new parents will find useful, and Down's Syndrome Scotland have also produced this lovely new parent's guide.
Local information:
WeSail (Wakefield Early Support, Advice, Information and Liaison Service) offers information, advice and specialist support to families of disabled children. Their advice line is 01924 379015.
The Wakefield District Families Information Service web site has lots of links to key services in the Wakefield area.
Carers Wakefield offer extensive support to carers in our area.
The Parent Partnership service offers a free, impartial and confidential service to all families with a child with special educational needs, aiming to develop partnerships between parents, schools and the Local Authority.
Advice and support:
General advice
The DSA has a section on their web site compiling parent's tips on subjects such as play, toileting, feeding, sleep and speech - well worth a look!
The Contact-a-Family web site has a range of factsheets that are free to download - browse around the publications section for information such as child behaviour, financial and medical advice.
Transition
Mencap have produced this online transition guide to provide support and advice to families with a child moving from school to adult life.
Some useful links about behaviour issues:
Speech and language
The DSA have a detailed information resource about supporting people with Down's Syndrome to overcome communication difficulties, and their top 20 questions about speech and language issues.
Sleep problems
The DSA have produced a leaflet about managing sleep problems and there is a much more in-depth article from DownsEd also available.
Toilet training
This detailed guide from the Canadian Down's Syndrome Society has some useful tips.
Support for carers
Caring with Confidence is a series of practical sessions to support unpaid carers that can be done online, in workbooks sent home or in groups.
Benefits and money:
What can you claim?A basic guide to Social Security benefits which people with learning disabilities may be able to claim.
Claiming Disability Living Allowance:
The DSA have produced these helpful guides:
A guide to claiming Disability Living Allowance for children is an additional factsheet from Contact a Family. They have also set up a new web site called Cash Counts, providing benefits and money advice for families with disabled children.
The Family Fund provides grants for families on lower incomes with disabled children for things they need for daily life.
Health information:
General
The Down's Syndrome Medical Interest Group is an information site primarily for healthcare professionals, but it includes a useful collection of parent resources about the health needs of people with Down's Syndrome.
Vision
Look up! is a really helpful web site about eye care and vision for people with learning difficulties, including a range of excellent fact sheets about vision and a section for people with learning difficulties with short films explaining eye tests and eye care.
Cardiff University has produced this useful advice sheet providing suggestions on how to encourage your child to wear glasses.
Hearing
A leaflet from the National Deaf Children’s Society on Down’s syndrome
and childhood deafness. The Look up! web site also has a useful section called People with Down's Syndrome And Their Ears.
Heart conditions
Approximately 40-50% of people with Down's Syndrome are born with an associated heart condition. There is a lot of information on the British Heart Foundation web site about heart conditions, and also on the Down's Heart Group charity web site.
Gastro-intestinal problems
Download the DSA's leaflet here
Thyroid conditions
Download the DSA's leaflet here
Resources:
Practical support
Makaton signing is widely used by children and adults with learning difficulties, and can offer a means of communication and reduction in frustration until speech has developed. This links to the charity web site, and information about local courses is available from members of our group. We have a lot of Makaton users in our group - just watch and see!!
The Disabled Living Foundation are a national charity that provides free impartial advice about daily living equipment, including specialist clothing and shoe advisors.
Sibs is the UK charity for people who grow up with a brother or sister with a disability, and provides support for children and adults.
Educational resources
The Down's Syndrome Educational Trust (DownsEd) work across the UK and around the world to improve understanding and to improve the quality of support and education for young people living with Down's Syndrome.
DownsEd's See and Learn project provides structured teaching materials to support language development, which can be downloaded for free.
We really like the free resources and activities on Priory Woods school's web site
Visual Aids for Learning have some excellent free-to-download picture materials which are great for visual timetables etc.
We love Shabang's combination of entertainment and learning!
Please note: the views and opinions in the linked articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Wakefield and District Down's Syndrome Support Group. Please contact us if you have any comments about any of the articles.