Buddy House dream to become reality for Down syndrome organization

by Alyssa Harvey from The Daily News:

Down Syndrome of South Central Kentucky will see a vision become reality with the opening of its Buddy House for Down Syndrome.

”Five years ago, it was just a dream. It’s like it developed so quickly and came together. We can’t believe we’re starting out with such an incredible facility. The community donated money, time and resources,” said house director Jane Tichenor. “On our own, we couldn’t have done it. We had people who don’t have Down syndrome and just wanted to help. I am humbled and speechless at the generosity of people.”

An open house will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday at 522 State St., with an official ribbon-cutting at 4 p.m. The BG Rockerz will perform during the ribbon-cutting. Official Buddy House T-shirts, including special shirts for infants and toddlers, will be sold for $10.

The date of the open house has significance – Thursday is World Down Syndrome Day, observed every March 21 to symbolize a third copy of the 21st chromosome in people with the genetic condition.

The house will have education and activities for infants, children and adults with Down syndrome and their families, as well as parents who have learned their child will have the genetic condition before birth.

”We want to reach out to people who just received a diagnosis, or gave birth to a child with Down syndrome. We have a welcome area where they can feel comfortable,” Tichenor said. “It’s a place where we can actually help our children, infants and adults, to support them in education and supplement what they learn in school to help them be more successful in life.”

The 3,000-square-foot building will house a Western Kentucky University-themed Big Red Room that will feature computers to help continue adult literacy and math and a Big Bright Room for school-aged children to help them develop speech, adaptive play and gross motor skills. There will be a lending library, meeting room, a kitchen to teach independent living skill and space for the BG Rockerz and ADAM group for younger children to dance.

”They learn so much. It even helps their speech,” Tichenor said. “They’re following directions and learning to have body control and balance.”

Because of its downtown location, Tichenor is “excited for opportunities of being out in the community.”

”We want everyone to know this will be a place to come gather and grow together and want to see all our loved ones with Down syndrome be all they can be and reach their full potential,” she said. “The more I meet these wonderful people, the more I love them.”

The Next Chapter Book Club

from The Next Chapter Book Club (NCBC):

The Next Chapter Book Club (NCBC) offers weekly opportunities for people with developmental disabilities (DD) to read and learn together, talk about books, and make friends in a relaxed, community setting.  A program of The Ohio State University Nisonger Center, NCBC was established in June 2002 to provide adolescents and adults with DD – regardless of reading ability – the chance to be members of a book club.  NCBC has become the preeminent program of its kind.  Today there are NCBC programs in over 100 cities across North America and Europe.

Individual Next Chapter Book Clubs usually consist of five to eight people with disabilities and two volunteer facilitators, some of whom also have disabilities.  The clubs meet in local bookstores, cafés, and similar gathering places to read aloud and discuss a book for one hour each week.  Much like members of any other book club, NCBC members choose the book they want to read and howthey would like to structure their club.  NCBC members read adapted classic novels (i.e. Little Women and Treasure Island) as well as current, popular literature.

Get Involved in the Next Chapter Book Club
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Jot It Down is a writing club for adults and adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Following the model of the Next Chapter Book Club, Jot It Down promotes social interaction and full community inclusion for its members. Members of Jot It Down work individually and collaboratively to write stories, poems, letters, MadLibs, and other projects.

Chapters Ahead, Inc. is a nonprofit organization providing training, consultation, and a variety of materials to promote lifetime learning, social interaction, and full community participation for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We are particularly interested in developing practical strategies and solutions that allow persons with disabilities to become valued and productive members of the community. Chapters Ahead grew from our experience developing and disseminating the Next Chapter Book Club, an internationally recognized literacy program for adolescents and adults with disabilities.

Camp Buddy bridges the gap between school years

from effinghamherald.net:

Brenna Heape’s tiny 7-year-old frame balanced atop two scooter boards as she glided across the floor, pushing and pulling a rope. After a few successful reps her face lit up, and she knew that she’d done well.

As Heape completed the set of therapy during the “motor labs” portion Camp Buddy, her smile was contagious, caught by occupational therapist Melinda Hawkins. Hawkins was holding one end of the rope and encouraging Heape through the exercise, and the two shared a few excited high fives when they finished.

Camp Buddy ended Thursday, after three days last week and three this week at the First Baptist Church of Springfield. The camp, sponsored by the Lowcountry Down Syndrome Society, offers a therapy-based curriculum designed especially for children with Down syndrome.

“It’s amazing,” said Molly Marchese, a founding member of LDSS and proud mother of Ella, 5, who has Down syndrome. “You watch them do something that they couldn’t do last year, and you work hard on it, and then they come back to camp and they’re doing it. So it’s really gratifying for the therapists to see their hard work pay off and for the parents.”

This is the third year that Camp Buddy has been available locally. The camp is intended to bridge the gap between school years so that these children can retain what they’ve learned in school and prepare for the next year.

Marchese said that the camp is also a way to offer essential physical, speech and occupational therapy to children whose parents may not be able to afford such specialized treatment, especially in adverse economic times.

Yet, Ella and the rest of the children continue to make strides. Wednesday morning, Marchese couldn’t contain her emotions at the thought of her husband, Joe, seeing their daughter ride her bike for the first time, a skill she conquered at camp.

“I can’t wait for him to see her ride her bike,” she said. “He’s going to be floored. But you take it for granted, you know; you think all kids know how to ride a bike.… You’re so proud of them. You love all your children; you’re so proud of all of their accomplishments, but to watch them reach a milestone, it’s just overwhelming this joy. They bring so much joy in to your life. To watch them realize they’re accomplishing something, it’s awesome, as a mom.”

Each day the children follow a regimen of therapy with special education teachers, therapists and volunteers. They work their fine, oral and large motor skills while having fun, singing along to music, working on the computer and riding bicycles, something new this year. They practice counting, reading and writing through programs designed specifically for people with delayed learning.

“They can do all of these things,” said Marchese. “It just takes a little extra effort, a little extra work, a little extra patience and time, but they can do the same things that their typical peers can do.”

The LDSS was founded in 2006 by Candy and John Bogardus, who have a 6-year-old daughter, Lainey, with Down syndrome. Candy Bogardus said that she and her husband went looking for a local support system and found the closest groups in Jacksonville and Atlanta.

In addition to Camp Buddy, which accommodates Effingham and Chatham counties, the group provides new parent packets for new parents of children with Down syndrome with information about the genetic chromosomal disease and early intervention therapy.

“When Kristen (Fears) was born, I didn’t know anything about Down syndrome,” LDSS member Wendy Fears said of her daughter. “What you did know was all negative things.”

Fears said that her mother never thought Kristen would be able to read, and that through early intervention and therapy, Kristen is able to play ball and dance at recitals like other children. She said that the expectations of this generation are far beyond those with Down syndrome before them.

“Their quality of life is going to be phenomenal because of things like (Camp Buddy),” said Marchese. “They’re going to be productive members of the community and they already are.”
The group also sponsors a Night of Champions award banquet, honoring businesses that employ people with disabilities and those employees.

“Our whole goal with that is to recognize that these people are making a difference,” said Bogardus, also secretary of LDSS, “and we invite other businesses to show them how they could become a part of that difference.”

Marchese said that the LDSS, while still only able to offer Camp Buddy to school age children, hopes that as the Buddy Walk grows, more people will offer to run camps for teenagers and adults with Down syndrome, catering to those needs.

Bogardus said: “We just want to, at this stage, help (our children) to be as successful as possible as they get older and to realize that they don’t have to place any limits on themselves. By doing that, we help the community to not want to place limits on them, because that’s another goal of ours is the community awareness that our children are just children and people with Down syndrome are just people.”

Summer literacy program to boost communication skills

from newsdurhamregion.com:
 
Jill Clements-Baartman knows what a difference speech can make in a person's life. Since she began working with people with Down syndrome in the early 1980s, she has seen a world of opportunities open up for those who develop their language skills.
 
"It's extremely important,"says Ms. Clements-Baartman, a speech pathologist involved in a summer literacy program being launched next month by the Durham Down Syndrome Association.
 
"They're very capable individuals and basically everything in our daily lives depends upon effective communication so the more that we can support effective communication, as well as literacy skills, the greater access that they have to activities in the community."
 
The program offers participants, ages 10 and older, a chance to interact with one another while engaging in various activities, including pottery, wood sculpting and bowling.
 
"On the Monday and Tuesday, there are specific language and literacy goals for each of the participants and then the Thursday, they work at home to develop a presentation and that can be a whole range of different things, depending on the individuals'abilities,"says Ms. Clements-Baartman.
 
The Durham Down Syndrome Association is a non-profit charitable organization, which supports families and other members of the community in working to improve life for people with Down syndrome.
 
Ms. Clements-Baartman, who's been involved with the organization for nearly 20 years, currently runs a direct therapy program called Talking, Language and Communication for children with special needs at a nursery school in Whitby.
 
Speech improvement is one of the biggest challenges for people with Down syndrome, according to association chairman Walter Heeney.
 
"Parents'biggest problem when their child is one to five years old is wondering how to get them to express themselves so you've got them learning a bit of sign language and anything you can before they get into the school system,"he says.
 
Equipped with heightened communication skills, those with Down syndrome -- including Mr. Heeney's daughter Jan, who has been working as a librarian assistant at a school in Pickering for the past 13 years -- can make the most of their lives, he adds.
 
"I've got young kids in this program that are 20 and they're coming out of high school next year. It's our challenge to help them get a job, whether it's volunteer or paid. It's about having a position and somewhere to go to be part of a team."