Description

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Early Education for Children with Down Syndrome is intended as a reference, as a textbook, and as a manual for parents, teachers, and other professionals who wish to accelerate the development of children with Down syndrome or with other developmental delays.This updated version is the outgrowth of my 32 years involvement as a teacher of infants and young children with Down syndrome, and my personal experience as the developer and coordinator of the Model Program for Children with Down Syndrome at the Experimental Education Unit, Center on Human Development and Disability, University of Washington, in Seattle, Washington.The manual gives the reader practical and specific techniques to use in a program of early intervention. The exercises and activities are based upon what is currently known about child development. Moreover, these procedures were the backbone of the model program that has been so successful in accelerating the mental, physical, social, and language performance of children with Down syndrome.A program of early intervention, or any educational program for that matter, must be more than a mechanical adherence to a prescribed set of procedures. It must have the human element of warmth and gentleness, and a deep and tender caring for each child's uniqueness and human potential. Such a loving approach enables the parent or teacher to view a child's developmental deficits realistically but without frustration, and to recognize each gain in development, however small, with satisfaction and delight.