Down Syndrome: Causes, Effects and Treatment - Essay Sample

Introduction

Down syndrome is the condition in human life where children are born with an extra chromosomes from the normal ones. The situation is also called trisomy 21 by scientists because of the extra chromosome detected in the child's body. When a child has Down syndrome, the development of the body is interfered with, and this causes delays, whether physical or mental progress (Antonarakis, 2017). The physical and psychological problems caused by Down syndrome vary much from one person to the other. Some kids with Down syndrome go through a lot of medical tests and stay under medication while others live a healthy life in their condition. The condition cannot be prevented from taking place in human beings. However, the detection of Down syndrome is possible when the child is not yet born. Parents and kids can acquire the resources available that will help families with Down syndrome.

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The guardians living with children with Down syndrome go through different challenges in their life. One of the main problems is that they do not have to go far from the affected children because some of them need close attention. The children living with Down syndrome who experience different hard conditions and hence need close medical attention will require their guardians to be always close so that they can care for every time they need assistance (Dimitrova, 2016). Many cases are reported where guardians of children with Down syndrome have neglected their children and left them to die. The leading cause of this is because those parents did not accept the conditions of their child and decided to bring the baby up like other babies. Having Down syndrome does not separate the affected child from being a human being, and thus there is a need for parental care to the baby so that they can live well.

Research shows that some parents do not accept the conditions of their child having Down syndrome at first when their doctors tell them. Some guardians take the initiative and accept the baby after birth into the family and take care of him in that condition. Furthermore, the study indicates that more than 67% of the parents in the US abort their fetus after realizing that they have Down syndrome (Gabel, 2018). The parents do not accept the conditions of their unborn child and hence go ahead and get away with it before the baby is born. Many people who practices abortion fear the challenges that come with the baby thus killing the fetus.

When interacting with guardians, children with Down syndrome behave just like the other healthy kids expect when there is a need for the medical attention of the baby. Therefore, the parents who accept to bring up the children with Down syndrome do not have a lot of a hard time because their baby would go and play with other healthy kids outside.

The interaction between the children with Down syndrome and their guardians should be achieved most of the time through support. The guardian should show support to the child through visiting and inviting the parents and guardians with other kids with the same condition and talk about the conditions affecting their child (Vadakedom, 2017). The talk helps them to share ideas and knowledge on how to bring up their children in the best and happy manner. Moreover, the interaction is achieved by accepting the challenge and talking about it so that people can help where possible. Different people are willing to help, and when they get the information of the children with Down syndrome, they can assist where possible. Hence, this improves the interaction of the guardian and the kid who has Down syndrome.

The interaction is also improved by the guardian taking care of their lives every time by ensuring their health is robust always. Therefore, this is achieved by the guardians exercising with their kids and eating well so that they can be bond together and reduce any form of stress that may come on their way (Alesi, 2017). Children with Down syndrome require love, just like healthy kids. Therefore, for a functional interaction between the guardian and the kids, love should be unlimited so that the children will grow well and in a healthy manner. The guardian shares her values with the children so that they can feel loved and cared for every time they are living.

Some parents come with different guardians who can take care of their kids. Research shows that if one of the guardians is unable to take responsibility for the person living with Down syndrome, parents move to the court to ask for the services of the other guardians who can care for the kid. The reason is to ensure their kid is well catered for during her young age so that she may grow well and achieve her dreams in life. Nevertheless, people with Down syndrome require respect like other members of the family and society at large (Allahyari, 2018). Hence, for proper interaction between the guardians and the children, they show them the required respect, and when the kids make mistakes, they are corrected as required. In turn, kids grow like other normal ones and live a better life.

For better interaction between the guardians and their children with Down syndrome, the parents discuss their plans with the guardians concerning how their child will be raised. The parents tell the guardians the strengths of their kids and their needs so that they can understand them better (Cless, 2018). Likewise, the interests of the child are explained to the guardians so that it is easy for the guardian to care for the baby. When the information is passed to the guardian, the child with Down syndrome will transition well from the parent's care to the guardians. Lastly, children with Down syndrome have some desires that they need to achieve in life. Guardian's support on those desires will create a functional interaction between the kids and them hence making the relationship to be smooth throughout their stay.

References

Alesi, M., & Pepi, A. (2017). Physical activity engagement in young people with Down syndrome: investigating parental beliefs. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 30(1), 71-83.

Allahyari, T., & Wolf-Branigin, M. E. (2018). Journal of Down Syndrome & Chromosome Abnormalities.

Antonarakis, S. E. (2017). Down syndrome and the complexity of genome dosage imbalance. Nature Reviews Genetics, 18(3), 147.

Cless, J. D., Nelson Goff, B. S., & Durtschi, J. A. (2018). Hope, coping, and relationship quality in mothers of children with Down Syndrome. Journal of marital and family therapy, 44(2), 307-322.

Dimitrova, N., Ozcaliskan, S., & Adamson, L. B. (2016). Parents' translations of child gesture facilitate word learning in children with autism, Down syndrome and typical development. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(1), 221-231.

Gabel, S. L., & Kotel, K. (2018). Motherhood in the context of normative discourse: Birth stories of mothers of children with Down syndrome. Journal of Medical Humanities, 39(2), 179-193.

Vadakedom, S. S., Antony, J. M., Padma, B. K., Mammen, D. S., & Thankappan, B. P. (2017). Quality of life of mothers of children with Down syndrome. Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences, 6(36), 2939-2943.