Down Syndrome
By Barb D.

When our son, Bill, was born twenty years ago, we had no idea what an extraordinary journey we were embarking upon. It has been one fraught with times of fear, disappointment, sadness, frustration and many road blocks. However, the joy, the good times, and his amazing success have far outweighed the bad. He has opened a whole new world to us as we have watched him grow, learn and develop into the very kind and caring young man he is today.

At birth Bill was diagnosed with Down's Syndrome and the pediatrician advised us to put him into an institution as he would never be capable of learning anything. We ignored his prediction. He was a child that had been given to us and we wanted to do our best for him and raise him the same as any other child.

I began doing my own research, it took three and a half years to find the things that worked. Doctors and educators in the province were unable to give me the information I needed or provide programs that were effective. The first useful therapy I learned of was Cell Therapy provided by a doctor from Germany. This therapy helps to correct a metabolic error in people with Down's Syndrome that causes the retardation. Shortly after starting Bill on this therapy we learned of an association for child development in the United States that would do neurological assessments and set up individual teaching programs. We began taking Bill to the U.S. every three months for assessments.. Changes to his home teaching program which was designed specifically for his stage of development, were made as he progressed. The program consisted of exercises and activities of stimulation for brain development as well as academic.

Bill was 4 yrs. 2 mos. when he started the program and within three months was reading his first Lady Bird book. He also knew the alphabet, both upper and lower case, and was learning to count and recognize numbers.

At age 6 yrs. 1 mos. he entered regular Grade 1. He was quite a good reader by this time which was very interesting as none of his classmates, who were several months older, had yet begun to read.

In the elementary grades the teachers had no expectations for him in regards to learning but we continued with the neurological assessments and followed programs and activities that were advised. While they were having him do adding and subtracting at school he was already doing multiplication and division at home. The teachers did not have him learning cursive at school as they thought it would be too difficult for him and was unnecessary, I disagreed, he learned cursive at home. In Grade 6 he was not allowed to join the band at school as, again, the teachers had decided he would not be able to read music. He was disappointed so asked if he could take piano lessons instead. He started piano lessons the middle of October and by the end of December was playing well enough to play two selections for the Christmas concert. He went on to finish Book 4 of the Leila Fletcher music course at which time his teacher retired. In Grade 7 students were to begin learning French. Again, Bill was to be omitted. I demanded he be allowed to try. The mark he made on his first examination was 76%, as a result he went on to take French for three years.

Bill continued to have neurological assessments and followed the home teaching program along with regular school all the way through Grade 12. We were very fortunate the last couple years of his schooling to have Elizabeth Harms of Hope Centre do his neurological assessment as she was a great help to us and also saved us the travel time to the U.S.

Bill continued to do well in school and although the expectations for him in math were to learn to add and subtract using a calculator, has a good understanding of math concepts and does algebra.

Bill graduated from High School in l998 at age 17 years. He gave the welcoming address at the beginning of the exercises and the thank you speech at the end of the program. We didn't know just what our next step would be but he continued learning at home as he had hopes of further education.

In September of 1998 he enrolled in Speech Arts at Lethbridge Community College and also registered in a GED High School Equivalency course to keep the school courses fresh in his mind. He made great progress in all he was doing but in January 1999 another door opened for him.

The Lethbridge Community College started a program for students with disabilities which was completely different from programs that had been tried in the past. This program which is called Campus Connections takes a limited number of students. The reason for this is that they can be integrated in a better way. If students with disabilities are attending in large numbers they tend to be grouped and segregated.

Students are allowed to take courses they are interested in with the approval of the instructors. They usually only audit the courses so do not have to write exams and do not receive credits. In spite of this they learn many things, become more independent and develop good social skills. Bill has been an exception, he has taken courses for credit, and has done well on exams. He has taken courses in English, Reading and Writing for College Students, Psychology, Communications, Canadian Government History, Criminology, Rehab., Dance, Public Speaking, Computers, and Phys. Ed. He has also volunteered one morning a week for the past two years at an elementary school. He helps students with the reading, math, and computers as well as helping the teacher mark papers. He works out in the gym daily and plays Volleyball two evenings a week on a college team.

He has also continued with Speech Arts and now is taking Musical Theatre lessons as well. He loves performing and has won first place certificates for Speech Arts in the Kiwanis Festival two years in a row. This past April he performed in Musical Theatre for the Kiwanis Festival for the first time. He received a second place certificate for singing "Greased Lightnin'" from the musical "Grease". He has performed at several Musical Theatre recitals doing a different song and dance routine for each and has done most of his own choreography.

His plan at present is to take one more year of college and then take a Teacher Assistant course through the University of Calgary. He can take the course by distance through teleconferencing and 6 hrs. per week practicum.

He is hoping to take a leadership course in July which will be a benefit to him at some point in time.

He did remarkably well in the Public Speaking course he took, the last speech he was required to give he received a 10 out of 10 to have the highest mark in class. He has already had the opportunity to use this skill. He gave a talk on the Campus Connections program to a group of parents and educators. He did a great job and certainly instilled feelings of hope and encouragement in the parents present. He also spoke to the Board of Governors at the Lethbridge Community College. He told of his experiences at college, how he was benefiting from the program and his plans for the future. His presentation was very well done and he left the group with looks of surprise and amazement on their faces. He has been a great promoter for the Campus Connections program. The Board of Governors has deemed it a worthwhile program and have since taken in 4 more students.

For the summer Bill is working afternoons at the Red Cross (a paid job), mowing the lawn, cleaning equipment, painting, etc. One morning a week he is a volunteer at the Lethbridge Regional Hospital guiding people to different departments and delivering documents. He is also still volunteering one morning a week at the school until the end of June as well as studying to get his drivers license.

He loves all of his jobs and because of good social skills he is well liked and admired wherever he goes.

His success has certainly been due to proper neurological assessments and teaching programs combined with medical intervention that may seem somewhat unorthodox but are effective. Family, friends and spiritual support have also contributed. Bill attends church regularly, and has great faith. I truly feel that God has a plan for him as things just keep falling into place. Bill has be a ground breaker in so many areas that in the future I think he will be a great spokesperson for people with disabilities.