WHAT IS DOWN’S SYNDROME (DS)?

It’s a congenital disorder arising from a chromosome defect during cell division, an extra copy of chromosome 21.

KEY FEATURES

• People with DS have distinct facial features like flattened faces, upward slanting eyelids, short necks and hands, a single crease in the palm.
• They may have other health complications like heart ailments, sleep apnea, poor muscle tone, and obesity.
• They have a cognitive delay which impacts their ability to learn.

SPEECH AND LANGUAGE

• Delay in acquiring language skills
• Receptive language abilities are better than expressive language
• Due to low muscle tone, they have difficulty producing sounds
• The ability to use gestures for communication is good
• They may have misarticulations or a muffled voice
• Playing and socializing us very good

KEY MARKERS

• Advancing maternal age is one of the causative factors
• If parents have one child with DS they are at a higher risk of having another

INTERVENTION

• Physiotherapy to improve motor skills
• Occupational therapy to improve attention, cognition and fine motor skills
• Speech language therapy to improve communication
• They can also learn sign language or use alternate modes of communication (like a device or app)