Growth and development

[dad777]

At what age can you stop worrying about your child having Down Syndrome?  Is this noticeable at birth?  My wife had her 1st ultrasound and the technician noticed an echogenic foci in the left ventricle.  No other markers were found.  A second ultrasound revealed no other markers.  My son just turned 7 months and he has been developing great so far.  Should I still worry if he has Down Syndrome?  Should our pediatrician have noticed anything?

[vanessa64]

i have a baby girl who the doctors are saying she is down syndrome and she is saying dada is that possible

[cheesebabe]

I have my daughter that has DS, but I also have my son and I am a full time mom to my 3 step sons. Let me tell you, they were all different. They all walked and talked when they were ready. Just because your son isn't doing the things that you think he should be doing does not mean that there is something "wrong" with him. He will do everything in time. Don't rush it. It goes by so fast!! For one of my kids, we bought him a push along walker thing from Lil Tykes, it got him walking right away!! He pushed that thing everywhere, till one day he just let go and took off! Read to your child everyday...they absorb so much more than you know. Good luck and as I said before God bless your family.

[SimplyStar]

My son is now 37, started to school at  age 2, began walking shortly after that,  we used adaptive sign language to bring on speech, as long as he could communicate his needs,  this worked fine. His total speech developed  through out his school years and  with extra speech therapy, since  most all development has to be learned by observation,  it just takes patience and time.  There is no way to compare progress between one child and another. Never compare  your child's progress  to that of a "normal" child. They develope their own speed of learning. I went back to college to find the best means of helping my son and ended up working in the field with adults with disablities.  In the 20+ years I spent working with them,  there were never 2 alike,  the progress depends on many factors, what is offered to them in the way of challenges at home, school and community life.  My son has developed into an independent person, able to communicate well and  live as normal a life as possible with his limitations.  He is still learning as we all do.  I believe the best formative years for a child with Downs is somewhere between 8 and 18,  The foundations laid down there promote a sense of an inquisitive  nature. My son began to "catch up" faster after he turned 8, left the childishness behind and began to grow into what he could understand and become.  He was not treated as "special", he was taught to follow the rules just like our other children.  I learned to give help, where help was needed, to get him to foster his solutions himself and to redirect always towards learning. I used all the resources offered in our community,  Special Olympics, summer camp, swimming and all sports, interaction with all children as much as possible, church activities, travel around the country, always offering new vistas for learning.  We offered him the opportunity to ask if he was in question,  but more important to him now is , his own space.  We let him be as free as possible because at 37  he needs to be treated like a man, not a boy.  That takes time to build,  to allow the age oppropriate growth to happen.  I tell the parents that I speak to , to prepare their child for a future of independance as an adult.  Never to teach or allow, anything that would not be accepted as an adult.  I feel quite priviliged to have been given my son,  we have both learned so much.

[cartkai]

is it poss for a run down on your knowledge of downs from 4 years old pleases.

[cartkai]

at what age did your son start to walk and talk, how would you say his development was at four years old

[SimplyStar]

My son did not walk until he was a little over 2 years. Why are you dwelling on this?  By 1 year you would absolutly know if your son was downs.