Down Syndrome
By: Courtney Hamilton
We all know someone in our school that might have Down syndrome. Or
maybe our family members have Down syndrome. Having Down syndrome is a
hereditary trait. But do we really know how you get Down syndrome? Having a
baby with down syndrome under the age 30 is one in 1000, but being around age of
44 you the probability is one in every 35. Which means the older you are the more
likely you’re going to have a kid with Down syndrome. In this essay I am going to
tell you about the birth defect itself, including a physical description, and other
things about it. Also I am going to tell you whether or not treatment is available for
this disease. The last thing I’m going to talk about is what assistance is available to
the parents and the child who is affected.
First off I’m going to start things off with describing the birth defect. Down
syndrome becomes in affect because of the 21st chromosome. Regularly you should
only have 20 but when you get that extra one that’s when you can say you have
Down syndrome. There are many characteristics to Down syndrome. They usually
have a low muscle tone or maybe they even have a protruding tongue. You can tell
if the baby has Down syndrome before and after it is born. People with Down
syndrome usually have cognitive problems. There are around 400,000 people in the
united states that have Down syndrome. Having Down syndrome can happen to
anyone.
Let’s go onto talking about what course of treatment is available or if there
even is one. Treatment depends on one’s physical and intellectual needs and also
their strength. A child with Down syndrome will receive help from many different
specialist. These specialists will be likely will get care from a team of health
professionals; this includes special educators, speech therapist, occupational
therapist, physical therapist, social workers, and physicians. These people working
with the diagnosed people will boost encouragement and stimulation. Everyone
who has Down syndrome will have to have the same medication as those who do
not have Down syndrome. People with Down syndrome may have a special diet or
they may have digestive problems, this may affect them the rest of their life.
There is tons of different assistance available for the children who are
infected. One type of assistance for people with Down syndrome may be
financially. Having Down syndrome can be costly, paying for therapy or
medicines. To get financial support the infected person must not have a job making
over 1,000 a month. Also the child’s condition must have lasted 12 months or may
be expected to last; or they could be expected to result in death. Children and
adults will always need some type of help. They may need help reading or writing
or even eating. This is some assistance that Down syndrome patients may have.
In conclusion, I have talked to you about Down syndrome patients. I have
told you about the birth defects of Down syndrome. Also I told you about the
physical description, possible genetic connections. Another one is the effect on the
child’s life and how many people are infected. In the next paragraph I told you
what type of treatment could be available for them. In the last paragraph, I have
told you about the assistance that was available. There were different types
available but they are for different things.
https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/down/conditioninfo/Pages/treatments.aspx