Children with a Special Smile

Children with Down’s syndrome can become successful with the proper care. Read on to find out more about these special children.
On March 21st of each year, Egypt and the Arab world celebrate Mother’s Day. This date has also become special everywhere as World Down’s Syndrome Day. The event was held for the first time on March 21st, 2006 making it even more special to the mothers of these delightful children with their characteristic eyes and everlasting smile.

Down’s syndrome was named after the English physician John Langdon Down who correlated the facial features of a group of children with intellectual disabilities to those of Blumenbach’s Mongolian race in 1866. Until the middle of the 20th century the cause was unknown, but it was noticed that it was more common in the case of mothers above the age of 40. Almost a century later, in 1959, Professor Jerome Lejeune discovered that Down’s syndrome resulted from a change in the chromosomal pattern of a child as a result of an extra chromosome, the 21st chromosome, and the condition became known as trisomy.
Down’s syndrome is identified at birth and involves a decrease in cognitive abilities such as thinking, reasoning, and remembering. The incidence is about 1 per 800 to 1,000 births and occurs in all human populations. Children are noticed to have a single crease in their palms instead of two, almond shaped eyes due to a prolonged fold of skin in the upper eyelid at the inner corner, shorter limbs and poor muscle tone. They could be at high risk of heart defects and repeated ear infections.
Parental screening is advisable for pregnant women older than 35. An amniocentesis is usually performed in the late first trimester or early second trimester, and the detection rate is 90% to 95%.
According to Dr. Ahmed El Said Younes, consultant pediatrician and author of Physical and Psychological Training in Children with Special Needs, the best way to help these children is to interfere early in their childhood by providing them with special foods rich in amino acids to increase their brain functions and to try to ensure that they become educatable. If parents can concentrate on training and teaching their children, they can reach a high level of education. Intensifying the effort and tutoring given to a child with Down’s syndrome by about ten times what an unaffected child would require can achieve this goal. Eventually the child with Down’s syndrome can graduate from university, maybe later than his peers, but he will be a university graduate all the same.
Dr. Younes adds that the main concern of parents of children with Down’s syndrome is how their children will be able to earn a living later on in their lives. If they are educatable then there is no problem. If they are not, then there is a bright side as children born with Down’s syndrome are very proficient with musical instruments and some have actually become composers, therefore they should be introduced to musical instruments at an early age.
Children with Down’s syndrome are also very good with handicrafts involving detail, such as sewing sequins onto fabrics and making beautiful purses or accessories.
These children with a special smile teach us all a lesson in optimism. They continue to surprise us with their achievements. In fact, some children with Down’s syndrome reach a level of success that enables them to participate in the Special Olympic Games. An example of such a success is eight year old home-schooled Charlie Manley who was determined to beat a life of low expectations by regularly doing his gymnastics training routine of 50 chin-ups, interrupted only by his huge smiles.
The Egyptian Special Olympics was founded in 1982. Mrs. Magda Moussa, president of the board and also principal of Misr Language School, one of the leading schools that educate children with special needs within regular classrooms, emphasizes the importance of training children with intellectual disabilities at a very early age in sports. She is very proud of the results they have achieved. One of the many success stories is that of Fahd Fayez, who won a number of gold medals at The World Summer Games in New Haven in 1995 and the first MENA Games (Middle East and North Africa) in 1999 (we don’t know what the sport is). Fayez, a champion, also works as a textile employee at Misr Language Schools, making beautiful carpets that sell even before they are completed. Mrs. Moussa is looking forward to more success stories in the upcoming Special Olympics that will be held in Shanghai this year.*
As an inspiration to all of us, let us remember the oath recited by all the participants in the opening ceremony of the First Special Olympic International Summer Games in July 1968, ‘Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.’