Helpful information for anyone with a mentally challenged special needs child

The following information should prove helpful for anyone with a mentally challenged special needs child.  While a good portion of this “open letter” was written originally to a mother with a lower functioning 13 year old Down's syndrome student, I hope you find much information which will help with your child(ren).

This is one outtake from the full article:

"...As with any population of individuals, it is difficult to make a blanket statement that applies correctly to every Downs child. Many typical Downs children will have mental ages (and interests) approximately between seven and twelve years old as an adult, but not all (some will be higher and some will be lower). Obviously, a 7 year old's abilities will be less than the teen age reasoning abilities of a 12 year old. For these children, emphasize learning safety skills, personal information, leisure time activities that they can enjoy, and job related/work skills training which encourages them to function within their family and community. For higher functioning children, stress academics that lead to better job placements as adults.

In years past, Downs children were labeled as "educable" or "trainable", according to their IQs. These labels were restrictive and unfair to the families and children alike. Today, these labels have been removed, allowing many Downs children to surpass expectations and break the strangle-hold of stereotypes. Therefore, never limit your child by low expectations, but expose him to many realistic situations where he will experience success..."

We noticed right away that much of this didn't seem applicable in our case but we have long been willing to collect all information available and keep it in reserve, even if its relevance didn't seem immediately apparent.