Development and learning
People with Down syndrome experience difficulties with learning that impacts development throughout their lives. Differences in development (compared to other children) are seen soon after birth. Over time, these learning difficulties and differences lead to significant delays in many areas of development. However, not all aspects of learning and development are equally affected. By recognising what might be more difficult and what might be easier, we can help people with Down syndrome to make more progress more quickly.
Down syndrome is associated with additional copies of some genes. These additional genes are present from conception and influence brain development from before birth and throughout the lives of people with Down syndrome. However, human development is not simply a consequence of our genes, it is influenced by our genes, by our experiences and by our interactions with other people and with the world around us.
Genes and environments
In different times and places, people with Down syndrome have been (and sometimes still are) confined to hospitals or asylums. In these institutions they tended to receive minimal care and support (while still having the same genetic differences). When living in these conditions, growth and development were severely stunted, and few children made good progress. In the past, outcomes for institutionalised children with Down syndrome were usually assumed to be the result of the condition – that they simply could not learn many of the things they had not learned. Few people wondered if it was because they were not taught. As children with Down syndrome were increasingly supported by their families and welcomed in their communities, we have learned this was mistaken and that, in fact, they could achieve much more.
Even today, we need to be careful not to make the same mistakes. All people with Down syndrome experience significant difficulties throughout their lives. However, we still cannot be certain about what they may achieve, given the right opportunities and support. We are still learning about the condition. Meanwhile, many people with Down syndrome continue to achieve more.
Development and learning
- People with Down syndrome experience difficulties with learning that impacts development throughout their lives
- Not all aspects of learning and development are equally affected
- By understanding what may be more difficult (and what may be less difficult), we can better target support and teaching
- We should be careful about assuming that certain outcomes are unavoidable consequences of the condition – people with Down syndrome achieve much more than in the past because of inclusion, advances in healthcare and better education
- Motor…
- Social skills and emotional understanding are often relative strengths
- Cognitive…
Differences and similarities
Childhood is a period of rapid physical and mental growth and change for all children. Children with Down syndrome tend to follow similar patterns of development to typically developing children, although generally making slower progress. Some areas of their development are usually more delayed than others, when compared to typically developing children. This pattern of common developmental differences can help to inform approaches to teaching and support by targeting additional support towards specific needs.
At the same time, we should remember that each young person with Down syndrome is an individual. While we can identify many things in common among people with Down syndrome, there are also many differences. Some will experience fewer difficulties with some things than others (and vice versa). So, while the pattern of common developmental differences is a helpful guide, we still need to understand each individual’s personal strengths, skills and experiences.
What is development?
We use the word “development” to refer to the processes of physical, cognitive, emotional and social growth and change from birth.
Development may be grouped into different areas, including motor development (controlling our movements, including crawling, running, picking up food, drawing and writing), social development (learning how to understand and behave towards other people and form relationships), cognitive development (learning to think, reason about the world and solve problems), language development (learning what words mean and how to put them together in sentences to communicate), speech development (learning to identify and produce the sounds in speech and to combine them to produce whole words clearly), reading development (learning to recognise and understand written words and sentences), number skills development (learning concepts like size and length, learning to count and learning arithmetic)
Motor skills
TODO
Social skills
From an early age, social skills and emotional understanding are often relative strengths. Children with Down syndrome are generally sociable and empathetic, making eye contact, smiling, and engaging in social interaction from early infancy. They are usually sensitive to other people’s emotions and sensitive to non-verbal cues. Introduction: Social development
Cognitive development
Attention, executive function, memory…
Language
Most children with Down syndrome experience significant and persistent difficulties learning to understand and to use spoken language, even though they are eager to communicate from infancy. While many children show strengths in non-verbal communication skills such as gestures and signs, spoken (verbal) language skills are usually more delayed.
Despite these challenges, most children with Down syndrome can (and do) learn the meanings of words and learn to talk in sentences. However, they will take longer and will need considerably more support than other children.
Children with Down syndrome usually understand more words that they can use in spoken conversations. This can be a source of frustration when they want to communicate but struggle to put their thoughts into words.
Early grammar skills develop steadily as the children learn vocabulary – as with other children. However, later, more complex grammar is learned more slowly. Again, children with Down syndrome will often understand more grammar than the use when they speak.
Children with Down syndrome need additional, explicit support to learn both vocabulary and grammar, and practise talking from early childhood and throughout their education. Teenagers and adults with Down syndrome can continue to learn language throughout life, given support.
Some children with Down syndrome (maybe 10% to 15%) make significantly slower progress than most children with Down syndrome. Some of these children have additional medical problems and are experience more difficulties in all areas of development. Some of the group have more profound language learning difficulties, for reasons which are not clear. Others are severely to profoundly deaf. These children will need additional support that is carefully adapted to their needs.
Speech
Most children with Down syndrome find all aspects of speech production difficult. While some studies suggest that babies with Down syndrome start to babble at a similar age as other children, they generally do not learn to say single words as early or as clearly as their typically developing peers.
