It’s not the 60s anymore…it’s time to update the advice given to parents about Down syndrome

I was listening to a story recently of a woman who became pregnant with her first child when she was just 16. My mouth sat open wide as she explained how hard she had to fight to keep her baby, being a “good Catholic girl” in the 1960s.
It was the norm back then. Young mothers pulled out of society and whisked ‘away’ somewhere to either have a termination or disappear for a while until the baby was born only to be forcibly removed and given up for adoption. These sorts of practices were commonplace and considered to be ‘for the best’. This woman had all sorts of so-called experts in her ear, from the local priest, the doctors, family and friends weighing in on what was best for her, the baby and ‘good taste’ apparently.
It’s not like that anymore. Society has realised over the past 50-60 years that it’s not the end of the world if a young mother has a baby, actually. We know that tearing children from their mothers and raising them in foster homes or boarding houses away from them is not the recipe for a well-rounded upbringing.

We know that so we don’t do it anymore.

In the story, the woman recalled how her son was called a “bastard” purely for being born to an unwed mother. She talked about how little support she had and how hard it was back then. This woman was a trail blazer, refusing to be told what was best for her and being a part of change that would bring us to the better place we live in now.
No one looks back at those times and considers it ‘Best Practice’. No one looks at the damage done to young mothers and their children as a result of forced separation and uses that to advise young mothers today.

We know it is better to support parents through challenges rather than demonising them for their choices. We know that when we stop telling children they are ‘worthless bastards’ who should never have been born, they grow up having more pride, confidence and control over their lives.

When a young girl becomes pregnant at 16 today…we don’t go looking to the 1960s for advice…

….so why are we still doing it with Down syndrome?

When parents are told prenatally their child has or may have Down syndrome, the information and advice given by many health professionals is wildly outdated and skewed heavily on the side of Doom and Gloom.

The first light of speech

I’m trying something new with this post. Click the links to see some videos posted on the Facebook page that go with this story

Watching Wade develop is a bit like watching the sun rise. If I sit and watch the sky, I can’t really tell if its getting lighter. Minutes tick by and the world seems pretty much as it was and then all of a sudden I can see it. The sky is different. It’s changing even though I’ve been here the whole time.

Something has shifted in him recently. His speech is starting to take shape and his ability to communicate is coming along. It’s been a long time coming and it has made me doubt myself on more than one occasion. Sometimes it feels as though months have gone by without anything new happening and then all of a sudden I catch myself and say… “When did he start doing that?”

I’d love to know what it is that spurs him on to the next stage. I have a theory about him only being able to work on one thing at a time. (The jury is still out on whether this is a Down syndrome thing or a male thing!). But once he masters one new thing, he very quickly learns two or three more.

I shouldn’t be so impatient but as I start to see the gradual changes that are inching him closer to full language, I am getting excited about the conversations we might have. Earlier today I tried to put him down for a nap but he obviously had something on his mind.