Blog #2 Mental Retardation: Down Syndrome

The first disability that I researched was under “Chronic Illnesses”, “Asthma” and the second disability is Mental Retardation, “Down Syndrome.”

The definition of Asthma is a lot different than the definition of Down syndrome. With Down syndrome, the child is “cognitively impaired” which means people with Down syndrome have a significantly below average general cognitive functioning. With asthma, it does not affect the child’s cognitive abilities. Asthma affects more physically than cognitively, whereas a child with Down syndrome is affected both physically and cognitively.

For Developmental characteristics, there are numerous differences between a child with Down syndrome and a child with Asthma. A child with Down syndrome is affected by physical characteristics and mental characteristics, i.e. facial characteristics, and mental abilities. One thing that is similar between asthma and Down syndrome is that they can be both affected emotionally. A child with Down syndrome might have a hard time emotionally when dealing with big changes in their lives; a child with asthma can also be affected emotionally because they might not be able to participate in everything that they would like to, to the full extent, because of their illness and it can get very frustrating.

For both disabilities, asthma and down syndrome, it is important for a teacher to understand the disability or illness. Teachers should be knowledgeable about the certain child’s IEP and their strengths and weaknesses because every child is different. Teachers should be extremely knowledge about their child’s disability because it will help to be able to learn different ways to teach and what to expect. Teaching strategies might be a little different depending on the severity of the child’s disability, whether it is asthma or Down syndrome. However, strategies differ between disabilities, whereas for a child with Down syndrome, a teacher must be sure to instruct in a step by step method with repeating reinforcement, while never overwhelming the child. For a child who has asthma, the teacher does not have to differentiate instruction as much, per se, however the teacher has to be more patient because the child will most likely be absent from school a lot due to his/her illness. For both disabilities, the teacher should always be in contact with the parents. The parents are the best resources for getting to know a student and getting to understand them and their disabilities to their full extent.