The potential of our DS children could be likened to a superior athlete's potential to compete in the Olympics. Like that athlete, the DS child's potential is only going to be achieved through very intense, very specific training, and will require an exceptional commitment. But, where most of our children ultimately function is going to be a reflection not of their innate potential, but of the opportunities which we provide for them, and commitment to the realization of potential. Today a developmental opportunity for a DS baby is typically defined as enrollment in an early intervention program. This supplies a special education teacher once a week or every two weeks for an hour, physical therapy once a week for a half an hour and a like amount of speech and occupational therapy.
Many parents feel very fortunate to receive so much help.
Most of our families at NACD however perceive this level of intervention as sorely lacking in both quantity and quality. The development of any child is determined by the amount of specific appropriate input, which the child receives. When we are dealing with a child with a developmental problem such as Down Syndrome their specific needs are such they require an inordinate amount of specific input if they are going to achieve anything close to their potentials. At NACD we have been designing home based programs for DS children for twenty years. Our families have understood that if their child is to be given a real opportunity to achieve their potential that they the parents were going to have to assume the primary responsibility for that development and education.