Puppets are special. Disorders and deficiencies to be treated
Down syndrome
No two people with Down syndrome are the same. Each one has its own characteristics and its needs, its illusions and its disappointments, its qualities and its defects.
Mr. John Langdon Down described the phenotype (external characteristics) of the syndrome in 1866, but it was not until 1959 that Jerome Lejeune identified the presence of an extra chromosome in the karyotype of people with the syndrome.
As with the rest of the population, there is as much individual variation as there are people with the syndrome, making it impossible to generalize about developmental or personality patterns.
Down syndrome is a set of diverse symptoms and signs that are manifested in the overall development of the person from the time they are conceived due to the excess of genetic material on chromosome 21.
Common features:
- physical characteristics: wide eyes, short neck, fine and straight hair.
- generalized muscle hypotonia
- intellectual disability
- stunted growth and premature aging
They can also present:
- insufficient immune system
- ophthalmological disorders and hearing loss
- thyroid dysfunction
- congenital heart disease
- respiratory system infections
- malformations of the gastrointestinal tract
Like every child, the student with Down syndrome is born a person with developmental pathways. Throughout its existence, it will deploy all its capacities as long as its environment facilitates the stimuli.
Down's syndrome does not pose any barrier to access to the language code.
All can understand and speak, if they have no other handicap. The disability manifests itself throughout childhood in the delay in the appearance of the first words and the first sentences, in the poor vocabulary and in the poor articulation of some sounds. There are no rules for when each child will speak and how they will speak.
The level of understanding always exceeds the level of verbal productions.
The student with Down syndrome reaches some developmental issues later. There are quite a few questions as to whether the learning process is slower or different.
The exploration of things, for example, is always more restricted to things in his environment than that of other children. They have difficulty encompassing and synthesizing.
As of now, the school future of children with Down syndrome cannot be predicted. It is necessary to analyze and assess each child individually, each school and each year.
Rules and ways of treating these students:
- Importance of consistency in education throughout your schooling.
- The affective manifestations that adults make to compensate for the cognitive deficit are counterproductive, because in this way the student learns to avoid difficulties and efforts
- There is no attitude more harmful to their development than overprotection based on the idea that they are helpless children unable to fend for themselves. This creates passivity and dependence on adults.
- We must understand and accept their difficulties and act in front of each attitude and behavior as we would with another child; with discipline and at the same time with tolerance.
- Understand that they do not react too quickly or that it costs them more to learn and do not confuse this with inability.
- It must be taught with tenacity and constancy. Systematic and routine work is important, which does not mean boring.
- Starting from the conviction that the child wants and can learn.
- Appreciate small progress and big efforts.
- Encourage him to discover and use his own resources.
