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Yesterday (21 March) was the 11th World Down Syndrome Day. This year's theme is "Valuing Down Screening and Nurturing Healthy Babies", which aims to raise awareness and attention to Down syndrome in the whole society.
01
Down syndrome is a serious birth defect and is the most common chromosomal disorder, also known as trisomy 21 syndrome, caused by one more chromosome 21 of human cells. The data show that the incidence of Down syndrome in newborns is 1/600-1/1000.
Normally, each chromosome should be a pair, one from the mother and one from the father. If it is three chromosomes, the genetic material it carries will be abnormal, so it will show some diseases.
People with Down syndrome have severe, irreversible intellectual disabilities, cannot take care of themselves, and need to be cared for for for a long time, so they will have a great impact on the health and family happiness of sick children.
Once the child is born, because its intelligence is affected to a certain extent, there will also be some abnormalities in heart development, etc., the average life expectancy of these children will also be affected, so when during pregnancy health care, it is especially necessary to pass some screening methods to diagnose the child in time during pregnancy.
Therefore, it is recommended that every pregnant woman should go to a healthcare provider for informed prenatal screening for Down syndrome at 12 to 22 weeks of pregnancy to assess the pregnancy risk of Down's children.
At present, the disease is mainly screened by performing serological screening of pregnant women, or it is now also possible to screen out this disease in time by detecting free fetal DNA in the blood of pregnant women, so both methods are carried out in the first or second trimester of pregnancy. By screening out the results, invasive prenatal diagnosis can be further pursued if the indications are high risk. For example, villous puncture can be done, or amniotic puncture can be done in the middle pregnancy, and these two methods can determine whether the fetus has trisomy 21 disease.
02
Parents of children with Down syndrome can involve their children in all the activities of the family, and also use games and special education to enhance their children's learning ability. Professional special education, including physical therapy, speech therapy and more attention, should be provided as soon as possible after the birth of the child, in addition to emotional support for the child and family of Down syndrome. Raising a child with Down syndrome is not easy, and parents must pay a lot of time, physical strength, full energy, patience, and expectations cannot be too high.
Children with Down syndrome may progress slowly. Babies with Down syndrome may not speak until they are two or three years old. Sometimes babies with Down syndrome may cry or become grumpy because they can't communicate with others. However, parents can teach them some "pre-language skills," such as teaching children to use simple gestures to gesture and add other movements and visual tools to express themselves.
More and more children with Down syndrome are entering regular schools, and they will also play and move with their siblings and friends. For children with Down syndrome, learning is indeed not easy, but attending classes with children of the same age can make Children with Down syndrome learn to take care of themselves, interact with others, and enhance intellectual development.
However, due to the slow physical and mental development of children with Down syndrome, as they increase in age, the gap between them and children of the same age will become wider and wider. Still, some experts recommend that children with Down syndrome attend regular secondary schools, as long as their teachers and parents agree, and there is additional supplementary education to help them.
03
In an interview with Ability Magazine, actress Jamie Brewer spoke about the significance of representing people with Down syndrome: "Some people rush to make hasty judgments, especially when it comes to people with disabilities: 'They can't do this.'" They cannot appear in specific situations. They can't do something we can do. ’”
"But the truth is — if you really see the core nature of things — we can all do it."
Brewer, best known for her role in American Horror Story, was one of the most prominent actors with Down syndrome in Hollywood. And people with Down syndrome are becoming increasingly important in the U.S. labor force.
In the United States, about 250,000 people have Down syndrome. More than half of adults with Down syndrome in the United States have jobs.
Adults with Down syndrome work in a variety of occupations, including banking, corporate, hotel, hospitals, nursing homes, offices, restaurants, music and entertainment, clergy, kindergartens, sports, and technology.
According to the National Down Syndrome Society, "People with Down syndrome, like anyone else, want to do a worthwhile job. ”
Source: U.S. Embassy in China, CCTV News Client (with deletions)