Announcing Down Syndrome Education USA

Down Syndrome Education USA is a new nonprofit organization established to create new opportunities for young people with Down syndrome.

We are associated with and work closely with Down Syndrome Education International - a leading research, information and education services organization. Down Syndrome Education USA will develop and evaluate education programs, offer conferences for families, teachers and other professionals and support scientific research.

Learning programs

Among its first initiatives, DownsEd USA is working closely with the Down Syndrome Foundation of Orange County (DSF) to plan a roadmap for the future joint development of the DSF's Learning Program and DownsEd International's forthcoming See and Learn program. This joint development will lead to the delivery of an integrated package of activities, guidance and resources to promote evidence-based educational approaches and to support families, parent support groups, associations, teachers and schools to implement them effectively. The joint education program will be developed for adaptation and translation to meet the needs of young people with Down syndrome throughout the USA and across the rest of the world.

Education conferences

DownsEd USA is also developing plans for Down Syndrome Education Conferences that will offer multi-track opportunities for families, teachers, paraprofessionals/instructional assistants, speech pathologists and educational psychologists. We hope to hold at least two events in the US in 2009.

We will also support scientific research into the developmental and educational needs of young people with Down syndrome and effective strategies, techniques and interventions to support learning. Our ambition is to offer people with Down syndrome everywhere better educational opportunities. We are hoping to achieve this by advancing our understanding of the developmental processes that are different for people with Down syndrome, identifying how learning opportunities can be better adapted, and by developing, evaluating and disseminating practical education programs and guidance.

Partnership and collaboration

We aim to work effectively with colleagues and like-minded organizations to better achieve our common goals. We would be delighted to talk about how we can work together to continue improving the quality of life for people with Down syndrome and their families everywhere.

Comments

[Michele Ptaszek]

I am a parent of a 6-year old with Down Syndrome. We live in Illinois and are very interested in the effort to bring these educational opoortunities into our homes and schools.

[Michel Azar]

We have a 7-year old child with Down Sydrom who has been in a full inclusion program at Stone Ranch Elementary School ( Poway Unified School District) in San Diego, CA for the last two years. Recently, the school district has decided that our son is not includable and that he should be moved into a critical skills program. We disagree with the school district assessment as it contradicts the scientific findings of professor Sue Buckley and other researchers associated with Down Syndrome Eduction International. We need an independent assessment of our son by an expert in the area of special eduction for children with Down Syndrome. We will greatly appreciate it if anyone can refer us to such an expert in the San Diego (CA) area to perform this task.
Thank you

[Linda Pack]

I am trying kind of haphazardly to do the see and learn program with my son who is 18 months old. His EI teacher has recently told me she would like to team up with me and possibly other parents. How do I get more support and resources to make this work?

[Frank Buckley]

Linda: We will have more of the program finalised and online shortly (http://www.see-and-learn.org/) including nore guidance and resources.