Both Have Down Syndrome, Both Are Different
Our very good friends, who also have a large family, adopted two boys with Down syndrome, each at birth, through private adoption. The boys have different birth families, one was a local teenager, and one was through interstate adoption. As I watch the boys grow and mature, I ‘m frequently surprised by the differences in their development, neither is considered to be Mosaic Down syndrome. This re-enforces for me, that a diagnosis at birth, doesn’t guarantee a child’s long-term abilities, each child is unique.
N is currently eight years old, he didn’t learn to walk until he was three. I was a little surprised, when during nursery duty at our homeschool enrichment day a few years ago, that A was taking steps at… [more]
About Down syndrome (DS)
Down syndrome (DS) is a condition characterized by an additional chromosome, a total of 47, instead of the 46 chromosomes a child should have. This extra genetic material causes physical and cognitive delays, which often lead to varying degrees of mental retardation. One in every 800 babies born is affected; doctors are able to detect Down syndrome before a child is born through diagnostic testing with 99% accuracy. The risk of giving birth to a child with Down syndrome increases with age, for women over 42 the risk is about one in 60.
Children with Down syndrome tend to have certain physical characteristics, which usually allow doctors to identify the condition through a routine physical exam at birth. Usual characteristics include a… [more]
