A Riverside Fourth Grader’s Best Friend Comes Courtesy of Canine Companions

by Linda Arntzenius from Town Topics:

Ten-year old Rachel Bryant is a fourth grader at Riverside School. About 18 months ago, Rachel, who has Down Syndrome, showed signs of developmental leaps, all good, but at the same time, she began to be afraid of the dark. This was new for the youngster who’d been sleeping through the night since she was an infant. Her parents were “blindsided.”

Originally from Boston, Rachel’s mother Ginny Bryant is a lawyer with expertise in estate planning. Her father, Stephen Bryant, is an international business executive in the bio-tech industry, who hails from Lowestoft in East Anglia. The couple met shortly after Stephen moved into Ginny’s Boston neighborhood. Engaged within 11 weeks, they married and settled in Princeton in 2001.

With lots of relatives in England, the couple looks forward to an annual summer trip there. When Rachel was young enough to use a stroller, negotiating Heathrow’s busy terminal wasn’t a problem but as she grew the couple began to worry about traveling with their active and fast moving daughter — they’ve had three Amber alerts in the past.

“We worried about how to keep her safe,” said Ginny. “We looked into GPS tracking devices and Rachel worked with a behavior therapist but it was still a concern and then one day a friend said ‘Have you thought of getting a dog?’ We aren’t dog people, but my friend forwarded an article about one family’s success with a service dog for their 12-year-old daughter with cerebral palsy. When I read that this child who had never slept through the night until she received her service dog, that was it. I said sign me up and it has been amazing.”

Is it ok to date someone with Down syndrome?

from Yahoo Answers: Is it ok to date someone with Down syndrome

• I dont mean socially i could give a crap less about if someone doesnt think its cool. I mean is it like healthy? I dont understand down syndrome too too much besides they act a like... Well off. Is it even safe? Like could the emotions that come with a relationship be dangerous because i know some cases they have distrorted sense of right and wrong. And if they broke up? For unseen reasons could that emotionsl toll be deadly
  If not dangerous?

Answer: I have two children with Down Syndrome and I assure you that they will date and also hopefully get married! They are caring and loving and also able to take care of them selves. If they had a breakup they would be sad just like anyone else. Time heals just the same. Having children if you were to marry is an issue you will have to address. Also since individuals with Down Syndrome take longer to grasp things you will need patience. See our site to see videos of these great heros. They own businesses. Go to college and so much more

Protesters want protection for Hillsborough students with special needs

By Marlene Sokol from the Tampa Bay Times:
TAMPA — With her 9-year-old son Anthony nearby, Theresa Mastella stood outside the Hillsborough County Children's Board headquarters on Thursday, waving a sign that said "Schools should be safe."
Anthony has Down syndrome and, like other parents, Mastella was moved by the news of two deaths this year of special-needs students in Hillsborough County.
"It just brings up all the issues that have been going on for years in the schools," said Mastella, who is active in a Down syndrome support group. "Unfortunately, it took two tragedies to bring it to light."
About 25 other protesters stood with her, including some children. Rhonda Ward, a volunteer advocate whose son has spina bifida, came all the way from Broward County.
Their issues ran the gamut from improved services in the Hillsborough district to state laws that would hold districts more accountable for serving disabled students.
"It's a systemic issue, it's not just here," Ward said. "They make everything as difficult as possible."
The Hillsborough district has a work group studying safety in the Exceptional Student Education program, which serves 29,000 students. Issues include staff training and protocols for moving students from one section of campus to another.
District spokesman Stephen Hegarty said of the protest, "This group is advocating for children and for ensuring the safety of children, and we are interested in all of those things as well. We are hard at work reviewing everything we do."
The district also is investigating the death of Jennifer Caballero, who drowned in a retention pond behind her middle school after wandering away from gym class.
Some of the parents Thursday said Caballero's death affected them on a personal level.
Diane Rodgers, whose 12-year-old son has Down syndrome, spoke highly of his teachers and aides.
But there was one morning when, at 4, her son wound up alone in the bus lane while teachers and aides were occupied. Rodgers said she had lingered at the school and discovered him, by sheer coincidence, before he wandered off.
"Everyone you talk to has a story," she said.
Samuel Felix, 18, said he was sickened by news of the two deaths. He has Asperger's syndrome and plans to take courses next year at St. Petersburg College.
"I believe that all of us were made equal on this earth and should be treated as equals," he said.
The protest coincided with the Children's Board's legislative summit, an event that brings community members together to discuss issues they wish to take to the Legislature.
Pam Iorio, the Children's Board's interim chief executive, said some of the protesters participated in the summit.

iPad, iPod, iPhone apps for children with Down syndrome

from Touch Autism:

Touch Autism began to build mobile device applications (iPod, iPad, iPhone, and others) for children with autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, intellectual disabilities and other special needs after discovering how incredibly useful this type of technology can be.

Some of the many advantages of these apps are that they suit visual learners, they allow for non-verbal and non-written responding, they provide immediate and consistent feedback, and are very motivating, because they are just so much fun!

Touch Autism is a two person team dedicated to making the best technological apps for autism, Down syndrome and other special needs that we can! The Touch Autism Team is comprised of Jenny Winningham, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Tomas Krones a Software Engineer. The two of us continuously work toward creating technologies that can help people with autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities live independent and productive lives.

1. Staying Safe and Safer Strangers- A Stranger Danger Social Story for Autism, Down Syndrome & Other Special Need - This app is made up of two community safety social stories. One story focuses on safer strangers and buildings, and the other focuses on what to do if you are lost. 
2. Calm Counter - Social Story and Anger Management Tool for Autism, Down Syndrome and Special Needs - The app opens up to a "I need a break screen" that vocalizes "I need a break" when it is tapped. The screen then transitions to a red screen with an angry face and the number ten. With each tap the screen transitions to a calmer face and color. In this way, the app prompts the user to count backwards from ten followed by a deep breath. The app also includes a simple social story with line drawings about anger. The social story talks about feeling angry and things you can do, like counting to ten, breathing deeply and taking a break, to calm yourself down. The settings screen allows you to choose from male, female or no vocals for counting back from ten and for reading the social story out loud.
3. Touch Trainer - Autism & Special Education - The Turn Taker uses visual and/or audio cues to facilitate turn taking and/or sharing in children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome or other special need. This app has also been used successfully with young children, children diagnosed with ADHD, and with any child that finds it difficult to share! 
4. Divorce Social Story - A Social Story for Children about Divorce – Autism, Down Syndrome and Special Needs - This app is a simple and short social story about diveroce and what it means for a  child. The app uses simple language and graphics to explain that divorce means parents living in separate houses, and that it's ok. 
5. Turn Taker - Sharing Tool and Social Story for Autism, Down Syndrome and Special Needs - The Turn Taker uses visual and/or audio cues to facilitate turn taking and/or sharing in children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome or other special need. This app has also been used successfully with young children, children diagnosed with ADHD, and with any child that finds it difficult to share!
6. Preference & Reinforcer Assessment - Autism & Special Education - his Preference (Reinforcer) Assessment app was designed by a BCBA (board certified behavior analyst) to make running a preference (reinforcer) assessment amazingly easy to do, so that anyone can effectively and scientifically determine their child’s or client’s preferences. Reinforcement (Preference) Assessments are an incredibly important procedure in any behavior change program. They are not conducted nearly as often as they should be because they can be difficult to run, or because many parents, caregivers or practitioners have not been sufficiently trained to run them. This app includes such features as descriptions of all of the types of preference assessments, a timer to determine the end of a trial, and specific instructions and visuals to help you set up and run the assessment. Once the assessment is finished the app will automatically calculate the percentage of times each item was selected in which it was available, and will present this info in an easy to read bar graph. The data and graph from each client will be saved on the app, so that the user can easily review results from past assessments.
7. My Day With WH Words - A Social Story and Speech Tool for Autism, Down Syndrome and Other Special Needs - This app includes a social story about talking about one's day, and a simple visual support for "WH" questions (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How). The story focuses on why it's important to tell people about your day, and what each different WH questions mean.
8. Potty Training Social Story - Autism, Down Syndrome & Special Needs - This is an interactive story about potty training that is customizable for boys or girls. The app also includes and extensive FAQ page that lists answers written by a board certified behavior analyst to common potty training questions.
9. Knock Knock Numbers - Autism & Special Education - Knock Knock Numbers was designed by a BCBA as a fun way to teach kids how to tell knock knock jokes, while working on number recognition. The app teaches 20 different jokes and each one prompts the user to identify a number between one and ten.
10. Conversation Social Stories and Simple PECS Communication Tool - Autism, Down Syndrome & Special Needs - This app is made up of four social stories about different conversational skills and simple communication tools to go with them. The stories focus on greetings, asking someone to play, what to talk about in a conversation and tips for great conversations. 
11. Autism Apps - Autism Apps is simply a comprehensive list of apps that are being used with and by people diagnosed with autism, Down syndrome and other special needs. It also includes links to any available information that can be found for each app. The Apps are also separated into over 30 categories, and the descriptions are all searchable, so any type of app is easy to find and download.
12. Touch Tutorial - Elderly, Autism & Special Education - Touch Tutorial was designed by a BCBA (Board Certified Behavior Analyst) to teach users with little to no experience with new technology how to use touchscreens. Touchscreens, like those found on ipads, iphones, ipod touches or other devices, are being used more and more frequently in every day society. This application uses easy to understand language and icons to teach foundational skills and then builds on these skills so that the user learns many of the common gestures necessary to operate a touchscreen device. Also see Touch Tutorial Lite - Autism, Special Education & Elderly