priorities

We will develop programmes to advance speech, language, social and cognitive abilities from birth that can be woven into daily family life and integrated into preschool support and intervention services and classroom activities.

We will explore the anatomical, physiological and neuropsychological factors contributing to speech production difficulties for children and adults. We will devise and test treatment options.

We do not yet understand enough about the range of health, family, education and community factors that influence their progress to be able to offer the best support to individual children and families.

Participating in education with other children of the same age offers learning opportunities that cannot be replicated in segregated settings.

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.

With partners around the world, we plan to:

• Reduce the effects of hearing loss
  8 out of 10 children with Down syndrome have hearing loss from infancy and it affects their speech, language and cognitive progress. We will study a range of treatment options and compensatory strategies including aids and signing to provide clear standards for effective clinical care from birth.
• Reduce behaviour problems
  A number of children show difficult behaviours. These behaviours interfere with all their learning and social opportunities – they increase family stress and lead to exclusions from mainstream schools. We will take a close look at the causes and develop effective guidance that parents and teachers can use to reduce difficult behaviours.
• Reduce sleep disturbance
  Many children do not sleep well. This has serious effects on their learning and daytime behaviours as well as being very stressful for families. We will investigate the reasons for sleep disturbance in detail and develop effective treatment and management strategies, including guidance that families can implement at home.
• Deliver effective home learning programmes
  We will develop programmes to advance speech, language, social and cognitive abilities from birth that can be woven into daily family life and integrated into preschool support and intervention services and classroom activities. The programmes will provide step-by-step guidance and will be freely available online. We will develop online services to help families record and monitor progress.
• Improve memory skills
  Most children have poor short-term ‘listening’ memories and this affects speech, language, thinking and reasoning. We will develop and publish effective training methods to improve this memory ability.
• Provide free access to high quality information, guidance and teaching resources
  Language, location and income should not be barriers to effective support. We will develop comprehensive, multilingual information resources designed to meet the needs of families, educators, clinicians, therapists and researchers around the world, including written and video information and downloadable teaching resources. We will make these resources freely available over the Internet to reach a worldwide audience.
• Improve speech clarity
  9 out of 10 children and adults have speech that is difficult to understand. This is very frustrating for them and affects all aspects of their everyday lives - their learning, friendships, work and social opportunities. We will explore the anatomical, physiological and neuropsychological factors contributing to speech production difficulties for children and adults. We will devise and test treatment options.
• Understand the reasons for individual differences
  Not all children with Down syndrome are alike. They differ widely in rates of progress and achievements. We do not yet understand enough about the range of health, family, education and community factors that influence their progress to be able to offer the best support to individual children and families. We will study the progress of a large number of children and families in multiple locations for several years and measure the factors that are likely to be important in order to develop early intervention and teaching guidance tailored to individual needs. The study will also identify early indicators of additional difficulties such as autism.
• Improve literacy and maths skills
  Good literacy and arithmetic skills are important for daily living. The most effective teaching approaches have not been clearly identified to inform classroom practice. We will investigate teaching programs and strategies that can be practically implemented using existing resources and demonstrate their efficacy in improving literacy and maths outcomes. We will develop clear guidance and training packages to meet the needs of teachers in many countries.
• Remove obstacles to successful inclusive education
  Participating in education with other children of the same age offers learning opportunities that cannot be replicated in segregated settings. There is evidence of clear improvements in speech, language and communication skills for children with Down syndrome who are provided with good quality education in mainstream schools. Schools are not always successful at providing inclusive education. We will investigate the challenges and obstacles to inclusion and evaluate strategies to overcome them. We will develop clear guidance and training packages to meet the needs of teachers in many countries.

All of these priority initiatives will provide demonstrable benefits for people with Down syndrome. We can deliver these gains today, given your support.