Oman Doctor’s column: Learners with Down syndrome

from The Week, Oman:
Children with Down syndrome are capable learners who are excited and eager to learn. They just need to be given the opportunity to excel. They may learn at a slower pace, but are more than capable of learning. They are strong visual learners. This means that they understand what they see better than what they hear.The average IQ for children with Down syndrome ranges from 25 to 80, whereas the average IQ for a Down’s Syndrome student is around 50. In children without a mental disability, the average IQ would be around 100.
Children with Down Syndrome have specific points associated with their learning development:They are visual learners.
They understand a lot more than they can say.
They are able to follow classroom rules and routines.
They need help to remember instructions - shorter phrases or visual clues.
They have the same feelings as any other child.
Teacher’s expectations of behaviour, attitude and ability need to remain high.
Children with Down Syndrome can learn. However, we need to make compromises so that their educational needs can be met in the classroom.  Since they are visual learners, teaching reading to students with Down syndrome should be characterised by a strong emphasis on visual learning. Visual demonstrations, pictures and illustrations can also be successfully used to assist in providing effective instruction in other subject areas of the curriculum. Lessons in phonics should be included in the curriculum for the student with Down syndrome.
The use of manipulatives and activity learning can be beneficial in the development of number concepts. The use of physical demonstrations and activities are important when teaching math concepts.
Students with Down syndrome generally demonstrate good social skills, which can be utilized to increase learning and teaching opportunities. When speaking to a student with Down syndrome, it is important to speak directly to them using clear language and short sentences. You should allow adequate time for the child to process what you have said and respond. Positive reinforcements should be used for students with Down syndrome to boost their self-esteem and positive learning experience. This should be done both at home and school.
Children with Down syndrome usually need special education services. These services are available in Oman.
These services may include:Special education sessions
Physical therapy
Occupational therapy
Speech therapy
Behaviour therapy

In the last ten years in Oman, things have changed drastically for children with Down syndrome. They are getting the opportunities they need to learn and to be a part of the community. There have been special schools opening as well as certain schools under the Ministry of Education starting programmes for children with Down syndrome. In some cases, they even work when they get older. They just need to be given the opportunity to show their talents and skills.
For more information on this topic, email your queries to Dr Kawthar Hameed al Balushi at health@apexmedia.co.om

NEISD to pilot Down syndrome reading program

from My San Antonio by Lindsay Kastner:

Marie Livingston, the mother of an 8-year-old with Down syndrome, was at a conference in Austin about three years ago when she first heard about the research that she hopes will pave the way for her daughter to learn to read.

“I was listening to these people speak about the progress children can make,” Livingston said. “If you have a child with Down syndrome, you know what a big deal that is.”

Now, thanks in large part to her efforts, the British-born program will be replicated in the North East Independent School District – its first such attempt outside the United Kingdom.

The program is based on the work of Kelly Burgoyne, a researcher with Down Syndrome Education International, whose UK study found that children who received 20 weeks of specially-designed intervention for 40 minutes a day could significantly improve their reading and language skills.

Livingston's child attends a private school in New Braunfels but she began collaborating with North East ISD because the larger district has more resources to carry out a pilot of the program.

“We're always looking for something new,” said Judith Moening, NEISD's executive director for special education.

Burgoyne said her study is the first randomized controlled trial of reading and language in children with Down syndrome. It included about 60 children.

Students receiving the interventions learned to read more words than their peers who did not. After two 20-week sessions, 48 children were able to score on a reading test, compared with 32 before interventions began.

Some children progressed faster than others, Burgoyne said, noting that all of the participants had Down syndrome but some had brain damage or other disabilities as well.

She said her work is based on successful practices for instructing any child to read, with special adaptations for children with Down syndrome — who, for example, are typically good visual learners, which her program takes into account.

The program also incorporates phonics, sight words and new vocabulary.

“We were on the edge of our chairs,” Livingston said, describing the first time she saw videos of elementary-age participants in England reading short story books from cover to cover. She said that, intellectually, her own daughter is considered at the high end of the range for children with Down syndrome but can't read like the children in the videos.

Ten children between the ages of 5 and 8 will participate in the pilot here, including Livingston's daughter, Lilly. Her teacher from New Braunfels Christian Academy will also take part.

All 10 will receive the interventions, but not until the spring semester. For now, they and their teachers will carry on as usual. Periodic evaluations will help Burgoyne determine later if the interventions have any impact on learning.

Last week, she was here in San Antonio to conduct baseline assessments of the children in the pilot.

On Wednesday morning, Burgoyne met with 6-year-old Rafael Hildalgo for a roughly hour-long battery of tests.

Burgoyne held up a card with pictures of a lion, a bear, a cat, and a giraffe. “Where's the lion?” she asked and Rafael pointed. Other tests required Rafael to read increasingly difficult words and to describe simple pictures.

“Wow!” Rafael exclaimed when Burgoyne produced a new test booklet.

The only costs to North East are in staff time to train teachers and implement the new program, Moening said.

“It's an opportunity for our teachers to participate in something that's pretty exciting,” she said.

A foundation started by Livingston, called LLQ USA, will cover other expenses and is continuing to raise money.

Burgoyne is to return in January for another assessment and to train teachers. Students at the University of Texas at San Antonio will pitch in to help with evaluations.

If the pilot is successful, Burgoyne plans to conduct a larger trial.

Livingston said she hopes that one day her daughter will be able to take written tests and even write book reports.

“Everything in the education world has to do with knowing how to read,” she said.

iPad: more than a toy it's a powerful teaching tool

From PRWeb from ACDS:

The iPad isn't just about fun and games, it's a voice for those who are unable to or just learning to speak, and a powerful teaching tool. For the last year, many students at ACDS have been able communicate, some for the first time, thanks to the iPad.

"With our population, it's exciting to use 21st century technology to help us with our goal of preparing children to transition on into the public school setting at the age of 5," explained Cecilia Barry, SBL/SDL, principal of ACDS, an early intervention and special education preschool working with individuals with Down syndrome, Autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities and their families.

The road to the iPad began when Jessica Litwack, one of ACDS' speech/language pathologists first heard about how iPads were being used at a convention of the American Speech & Hearing Association in 2010. When she got an iPad as a Christmas present and played with it, she saw the potential. Then there was a student, diagnosed with Apraxia, an oral-motor speech disorder, who had difficulty communicating verbally. His tech savvy parents had discovered the iPad was an effective communication aid for their son at home and his speech therapist coordinated utilization of the iPAD for home and school. Thus, an idea was born.

With donations from the Parent Teacher Organization, individual parents, as well as one provided by the Nassau Suffolk Chapter of the Autism Society of America, ACDS now has 11 iPads. Ideally, ACDS would like all 15 pre-school teachers to have an iPad; right now they are used primarily by the speech pathologists. Better still, ACDS aspires to create a library of iPads that could be loaned out to students.

Using the iPad, ACDS' littlest ones, those ages 2-5, have been able to communicate -- some for the first time. The touch-and-swipe screen gives them the ability to express themselves and serves as a tool that enables these children to participate in classroom activities with their peers.

"The iPad is being used across disabilities and has been remarkable in particular for (use with children with) autism spectrum disorder as well as those with Down syndrome,” said Barry.

The iPad is versatile and can be used as an augmentative device to help individuals communicate. However, the iPad is significantly less expensive than the thousands of dollars that other augmentative devices can cost. It's also just cool, fun, and socially acceptable which matters to children who have shown that they are motivated to learn with the iPad.

"With the iPad, children are motivated to focus and pay attention for a longer period of time. Many children with Down syndrome and autism spectrum disorders are visual learners, so the iPad appeals to their learning style," ¬said Barry. "These kids are not reading, they're using pictures to communicate. For example, they can touch a picture of a sandwich or chicken nuggets on the iPad screen to indicate their preference and a voice recorded on the iPad states their preference in response to their touch," explained Litwack.

Another effective teaching tool of the iPad is it’s camera. It enables the iPad to become more dynamic and specifically geared to each child’s needs. An ACDS teacher recently used the iPad as a means of assessing knowledge of identification of classmates for a child who was unable to speak. Using the ipad’s camera, the teacher took a picture of the individual children in the classroom. The student was shown the iPad with these pictures and was asked to identify his friends when they were named. By touching the pictures on the iPad he was able to pick them out one by one – thus displaying a skill no one previously knew he had.

The iPad has opened a whole new world. "Everybody loves The Itsy Bitsy Spider. But it's different when the kids can touch the screen and it comes to life for them," said Barry.

There are numerous apps designed for children with special needs. “The iPad has apps that not only teach readiness skills in a fun way, but many apps also have the ability to automatically record data on students progress,” said Tricia Leahy, special education teacher. “We can monitor their progress with data that is automatically calculated at our finger tips!”

What's key, is ACDS' coordination with parents. “If an upcoming classroom topic is winter and the target words are coat or hat, I would have parents review the vocabulary pictures on their child’s iPad with their child so that the child would be prepared for the lesson in school. This prepares them to participate, to have a voice with the lesson," said Michele Harrington, Speech/Language Pathologist. The goal, if the child has their own iPad, is to have them practice at home.

Much is said about how technology is being misused by young people, but for the children at ACDS, technology is changing lives. "This is a great opportunity" said Barry.

ACDS, located in Plainview, New York is dedicated to providing lifetime resources of exceptional quality, innovation and inclusion for individuals with Down syndrome, Autism and other developmental disabilities and their families. ACDS has been providing programs and services in and around Long Island for 45 years. ACDS currently serves more than 750 children and adults, providing services that include Early Intervention and preschool special education programs, respite and recreation programs for children, teens and adults, adult Medicaid service coordination and seven supervised group homes in Nassau County.