Sue Buckley Research Fund Announcements

New appeal film for The Sue Buckley Research Fund

An appeal film for The Sue Buckley Research Fund can now be viewed online.

In the film Professor Sue Buckley, Chief Scientist at Down Syndrome Education International, outlines her vision for enhanced education and research for people with Down syndrome everywhere.

The film also features Lord Wedgwood, who is backing the Sue Buckley Research Fund by establishing the Lord Wedgwood Down Syndrome Education Research Award. This annual award will recognise outstanding contributions to global research and education to improve the lives of people with Down syndrome everywhere.

The film was shot on location at The Sarah Duffen Centre in Southsea by leading video production firm Shoot the Company.

Announcing the Lord Wedgwood Down Syndrome Education Research Award

Lord Piers Wedgwood of Barlaston has backed The Sue Buckley Research Fund by establishing The Lord Wedgwood Down Syndrome Education Research Award. This award will recognise outstanding contributions to global research and education to improve the lives of people with Down syndrome everywhere.

About the Lord Wedgwood Down Syndrome Education Research Award

The Lord Wedgwood Down Syndrome Education Research Award will be presented annually from 2009 to 2013 to an individual, family or company in recognition of leading financial contributions to The Sue Buckley Research Fund supporting research and services to improve the education for young people with Down syndrome worldwide.

Unique recognition for outstanding generosity

The winner of The Lord Wedgwood Down Syndrome Education Research Award will be presented with a unique and exquisite ceramic piece, especially created by the renowned Wedgwood company in recognition of their outstanding generosity.

All financial supporters of The Sue Buckley Research Fund are eligible for the prize which may be awarded for single or continuing donations to the invaluable work of the international research and education fund. Award winners will be selected each December by Lord Piers Wedgwood and Professor Sue Buckley OBE.

Announcing the award, Lord Wedgwood said, “I am excited that we now have an annual Lord Wedgwood award that will be presented to an individual or organisation that has made an outstanding effort to support Down syndrome education and research.”

Professor Sue Buckley added, “We are honoured by Lord Wedgwood’s support for the Sue Buckley Research Appeal. This award will enable us to recognise leading contributions towards our vision of delivering better education for people who have Down syndrome wherever they live.”

Lord Wedgwood also features in the new film for the Sue Buckley Research Appeal, produced by Shoot the Company. The film can be viewed on the Sue Buckley Fund website.

Lasting global benefits

The Sue Buckley Research Fund is working for a world where all young people with Down syndrome are offered the opportunities that they need to achieve their individual potential. Through scientific research and evidence-based services, the fund will help over 500,000 young people with Down syndrome and their families over the next five years and leave a lasting legacy of improved support for generations to come.

Denver scientists start an evaluation of early reading techniques

Researchers at the University of Denver, Colorado have just started a study comparing two early literacy intervention approaches to educating young children with Down syndrome.

The researchers will be teaching parents how to work with their preschool children at home – with support from the researchers. During the summer, researchers working on the study visited The Sarah Duffen Centre in the UK to learn about the early reading and language instruction developed by DownsEd over many years. They were also able to see the progress of some of the preschool children who attend the Early Development Groups run by the charity.

Staff from Down Syndrome Education International have helped the Denver team develop the parent training programme. Professor Sue Buckley travelled to Denver at the end of September to visit the research team led by Drs Karen Riley and Gloria Miller of the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver (DU). While there, Sue was able to talk with everyone working on the project. The researchers are now recruiting preschoolers and their families in the Denver area. The Denver research project is funded by a $130,000 gift from The Rocky Mountain Down Syndrome Educational Fund, $10,000 from the McDonnell Foundation and $10,000 from the University of Denver.

The charity looks forward to hearing about the progress and outcomes of this study. DownsEd's collaboration with this team will hopefully continue beyond this project and the charity is already discussing further work on reading instruction with school-age children.

DownsEd wins £0.5 million grant to test classroom reading support

Down Syndrome Education International has been awarded a grant to test an adapted reading and language teaching programme for children who have Down syndrome. The funding from the UK Big Lottery Fund will enable the charity, working with researchers at the Centre for Reading and Language at the University of York, to rigorously assess the impact of targeted teaching approaches when implemented in practice in typical schools.

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DownsEd USA announces US Education and Research Center

Down Syndrome Education USA has announced plans for the first Down Syndrome Education and Research Center based in the USA.

Building on successful, evidence-based programs, the new centre will offer education programs and resources to children with Down syndrome, their families and education professionals across the USA.

The centre will also conduct and sponsor scientific research focused on practical ways to support cognitive development, language, literacy and math teaching for young people who have Down syndrome.

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DownsEd hosts 2008 UK Down Syndrome Research Forum

Down Syndrome Education International has hosted the annual meeting of the UK Down Syndrome Research Forum at The Sarah Duffen Centre in Portsmouth. Researchers from around the UK and elsewhere in Europe met over two days to discuss ongoing research projects and future directions.

The UK Down Syndrome Research Forum is an informal gathering of researchers interested in aspects of Down syndrome that meets annually. The Forum offers those active in the field the opportunity to discuss ongoing work and preliminary results, and to consider future research directions.

This year’s meeting covered a rich variety of issues of importance to people of all ages who are living with Down syndrome, including ageing and dementia, speech and stuttering, the interactions between short-term memory and speech processing skills, the relationships between verbal short-term memory, phonological awareness and new word learning, memory training interventions, social communication, vision, reading and language, intonation, signing and speaking, speech perception, and foreign language learning.

Researchers attended from Universities around the UK and elsewhere in Europe, including the University of Plymouth, University of Bristol, University of Reading, University of York, University of Portsmouth, University of Groningen, University of Oslo and University College London.

Researchers at Down Syndrome Education International presented preliminary data from current studies exploring individual variation in reading progress in preschool and school age children, signing and speech development, and developmental trajectories in social communication and early indicators of autism-like behaviours.

A full report of the 2008 UK Down Syndrome Research Forum will appear in Down Syndrome Research and Practice.

Lancet article highlights calls for more Down syndrome research

An article published in leading medical journal The Lancet highlights recent reductions in funding of Down syndrome research and reports calls for more clinical and medical research to better help people living with Down syndrome today.

Professor Sue Buckley, the charity’s Director of Science and Research is quoted saying "Developmental and educational research funding is very small and very difficult to get, with no large-scale funding...These priorities fail to recognise the benefits of preventive health care and improved education for people with Down's syndrome and their communities".

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Books on teaching reading and writing now available online

Three books on reading and writing for children with Down syndrome from birth through teenage years are now available for free online on Down Syndrome Online. These books are from DownsEd's acclaimed Down Syndrome Issues and Information education series.

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International private equity support for young people with Down syndrome

Down Syndrome Education International’s work for young people with Down syndrome received a welcome boost from global private equity investors on Wednesday evening.

Launched at the Private Equity International Awards Global Winners Celebration hosted by leading financial media group PEI Media, the Private Equity International Charity Awards Fund I was oversubscribed, raising over £110,000.

The PEI Charity Awards Fund I will support the continued expansion of Down Syndrome Education International’s scientific research, publishing, training and support services that assist young people with Down syndrome and their families in over 170 countries. The Fund will also support Sparkles – a charity providing speech and language therapy services to young children with Down syndrome in Buckinghamshire, UK.

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TES highlights the benefits of teaching reading visually

The benefits of teaching children with Down syndrome to read have been featured in the TES Magazine. The article highlights DownsEd's research into teaching reading using visual approaches from an early age.

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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.

Down Syndrome Education USA is associated with and works closely with Down Syndrome Education International. Together, we will develop and evaluate education programs, offer conferences for families, teachers and other professionals and support scientific research.

Read more here...

Reading research review by Sue Buckley published

A review by Professor Sue Buckley of the current research evidence on teaching reading and writing to individuals with Down syndrome has just been published in the new book Speech and Language Development and Intervention in Down syndrome and Fragile X syndrome.

This new book, edited by Joanne Roberts, Robin Chapman and Steven Warren, has just been published by Paul Brookes Publishing.

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New research projects underway

With the backing of the Sue Buckley Research Fund, Down Syndrome Education International has started three new research studies involving preschool children with Down syndrome. These new studies aim to shed new light on the development of children with Down syndrome during their vital preschool years.

Research into preschool development

Three new research projects investigating the development of toddlers and preschool children with Down syndrome (aged 18-42 months) have started at The Sarah Duffen Centre. These new investigations are looking at:

• early reading development
• spoken and sign language
• early social and communication skills

These studies are involving around 40 families and children who attend the charity's Early Development Groups, and will follow their development over the coming 18 months.

The research projects are being led by Dr Angela Byrne, Down Syndrome Education International's Assistant Director of Science and Research, and are being supported during 2008 by Becky Baxter, Julie Hughes and Gillian Bird (the charity's Early Development Group service team) and two volunteer placement students (Jack Coulbeck and Kate Hill) from the Department of Psychology at the University of Plymouth.

Research into early reading

The early reading study will follow the reading progress of the children and explore the relationships between their reading progress, spoken language, speech-sound perception and cognitive skills. Research has already shown that reading abilities can be a real strength for many children with Down syndrome and improve their spoken language but all the reasons for the wide individual differences in progress are still not understood. The information the charity is gathering should enable it to give better advice on how to tailor teaching approaches to the needs of individual children. If funds permit, the charity hopes to follow the group of children into school.

Research into spoken and sign language

The language study will document in detail the use of signs and the emergence of talking in these children. While the use of signing is felt by most experts in the field to be beneficial in promoting good early understanding and communication, there is no published research which documents the extent to which signs are actually used by children with Down syndrome and how this may vary among individuals. The charity will be keeping detailed records of sign and spoken language development to see how one links to the other and explore the links between speech-motor skills and the transfer from using signs to using words. The charity hopes that this information will enable parents and therapists to understand the best ways to use sign most effectively as a bridge to talking.

Research into early social and communication skills

The research into early social and communication skills will document the development of key social understanding and communication behaviours in detail and how they change over time. The behaviours the charity will document are those that are important in diagnosing autistic profiles in children without Down syndrome. However, at present there is not enough information about how these behaviours develop and change over time in children with Down syndrome to know if they are reliable indicators of autism or whether they sometimes lead to over-diagnosis in these children. Therefore this study should contribute to the development of more accurate diagnostic indicators and also allow early identification of children at risk. The next step will then be to explore the effects of timely interventions for these children in order to reduce ‘autistic’ behaviours and improve their social understanding and communication skills.

Supported by the Sue Buckley Research Fund

Down Syndrome Education International has been able to start these new projects thanks to the generous donations made to the Sue Buckley Research Fund - the charity's new fund to increase research into Down syndrome.

Please consider making a donation to the Sue Buckley Research Fund to enable the charity to extend these longitudinal studies and to undertake further important research.

Support for the Sue Buckley Research Fund continues to grow

Generous supporters from all over the UK and around the world are backing the Sue Buckley Research Fund - a new fund set up by Down Syndrome Education International to revitalise and accelerate scientific research and education to benefit people with Down syndrome everywhere.

A successful launch

Sue Buckley, Director of Research and Science at Down Syndrome Education International, launched the Sue Buckley Research Fund in December 2007 with a worldwide appeal for support.

The charity's wonderful supporters have helped the appeal for funding get off to a great start by donating more than £1,000 per week since the launch of the fund.

In the few months since the launch of the Fund, the charity has received growing support from individuals across the UK and in other countries around the world, with many pledges of ongoing and significant support.

Fund backs new research projects

On the basis of the support the Sue Buckley Research Fund has received to date, Down Syndrome Education International has already been able to start 3 new research projects looking at the early development of children with Down syndrome.

About the Sue Buckley Research Fund

The charity established the Sue Buckley Research Fund with the aim of raising money to revitalise and accelerate scientific research and education to benefit people with Down syndrome everywhere, at a time when other sources of funding for this area of research are declining.

Sue Buckley launches major appeal to accelerate research to benefit people with Down syndrome everywhere

Professor Sue Buckley OBE today launched the Sue Buckley Research Fund - a major new appeal to revitalise and accelerate scientific research and education to benefit people with Down syndrome everywhere.

The Sue Buckley Research Fund

Sue Buckley, Director of Research and Science at Down Syndrome Education International, has been at the forefront of international research into the education and development of children with Down syndrome for nearly 30 years.

Today she launched the Sue Buckley Research Fund.

This major new appeal aims to revitalise and accelerate scientific research and education to benefit people with Down syndrome everywhere, at a time when other sources of funding for this area of research are declining.

Revitalising and accelerating research and education

Launching the appeal, Sue commented:

"Great strides in the relevant sciences have been made in the last 10 years. I think that we could now see an explosion of relevant research in the next 10 years if we can make the funding available. This optimism is shared by many in the international Down syndrome community. Many more scientists and practitioners are interested in this field and in working together more effectively.

"I believe that we could be on the edge of very considerable advances in our knowledge that will deliver important improvements in services, support and progress for people with Down syndrome. This is why I am asking everyone who wants to see better opportunities for people with Down syndrome to support this Appeal."

Advised by leading scientists and practitioners

The Sue Buckley Research Fund will deliver clear and measurable benefits to the lives of people with Down syndrome everywhere.

The work of the fund is being guided by a Science, Research and Intervention Advisory Board that includes many of the world's leading scientists and practitioners with an interest in Down syndrome and all committed to effecting change through the widespread dissemination of evidence-based practice.

Making the most gain - quickly

The planned program of research and communication - undertaken by researchers at the charity and at other leading institutions around the world - will:

• Provide free access to high quality guidance, information and teaching resources
• Reduce the effects of hearing loss
• Reduce behaviour problems
• Reduce sleep disturbance
• Deliver effective home learning programmes
• Improve memory skills
• Improve speech clarity
• Understand the reasons for individual differences
• Improve literacy and maths skills
• Increase the success of inclusive education

Detailing the fund's priorities and financial goals, Sue Buckley said:

"Our current priorities for people with Down syndrome focus on the areas where the most gain can be made quickly. All of these priority initiatives will lead to demonstrable benefits for people with Down syndrome. We can deliver these gains today, given your support."

"We want to see a world where people with Down syndrome have every opportunity to achieve their potential and lead fulfilling lives. I hope you will help me achieve our ambitions for people with Down syndrome everywhere."

Achieving these goals will require annual funding of £5.6 million ($11.2 million/€7.8 million) for scientific research and education. The charity's target is to reach this by 2012.

Find out more

• Visit the Sue Buckley Research Fund website
• Full list of Science, Research and Intervention Advisory Board members...