early intervention

The first years of life are a critical time in a child's development. All young children go through the most rapid and developmentally significant changes during this time. During these early years, they achieve the basic physical, cognitive, language, social and self-help skills that lay the foundation for future progress. Children with Down syndrome typically face delays in certain areas of development, so early intervention is highly recommended. It can begin anytime after birth, but the sooner it starts, the better. Lincoln started early intervention just weeks after his diagnosis, but he was 10.5 months old when that time came. Early intervention is an organized program of therapy, exercises and activities that work to help with developmental delays that may be experienced by children with Down syndrome. The most common early intervention services for babies with Down syndrome are physical therapy, speech and language therapy, and occupational therapy. Occupational therapy helps the development of fine motor skills like feeding, dressing, grooming. We are currently working with an occupational therapist once monthly as we are working on getting Lincoln ready for school (so scary to think its coming so soon :( )  We started by encouraging Lincoln to start feeding himself, which took a while but we are there now.  We didnt work much with with the occupational therapist until recently.  Now we are working on cutting with scissors, holding a pencil/crayon properly, dressing himself and drinking out of a cup.  The early stages of occupational therapy help in developing the movements in their hands that will allow them to do many things as they get older.  They face more challenges learning fine motor skills because of low muscle tone.  Physical therapy's purpose is to help the development of gross motor skills such as good posture, proper foot alignment and a good foundation for exercise throughout life.  When we first started with our physical therapist, it was alot of work!  We would go thru certain activities to help work certain muscles.  Lincoln was not a fan of his physio therapist - simply because she made him WORK HARD!!  Our at home daily activities  to help Lincoln get closer to crawling and eventually walking would include placing blankets on the floor in bunches and encourage him to roll around in them, placing couch cusions on the floor and encourage climbing, and alot of work with a yoga ball rolling him around on it encouraging him to hold his own weight.  All fun activities that made him work hard!  He started walking just shortly after his 2nd birthday, and full time walking at 2.5!  We have just recently been released from our physical therapist (even though Lincoln is still not riding his tricycle, mostly because he doesnt want to... maybe next year) unless something of concern comes up.  Children usually get released shortly after they start to walk.  Speech and language development can be challenging for many children with Down syndrome. Although most children with Down syndrome learn to speak and will use speech as their primary means of communication, they will understand language and have the desire to communicate well before they are able to speak. They have good social interactive skills and use gestures and facial expressions effectively to help them communicate.  There are a wide range of abilities that children with Down syndrome demonstrate when using speech.  They have difficulty with the strength, timing and coordination of muscle movements for speech.  When Lincoln first started his speech, we would work on blowing bubbles, and using easy words like push and ball.  We are currently working on the letters P,B and M start and finish words, as well as 2 word combinations. We usually have speech sessions (which are called blocks) every 6 months-once a week for 6 weeks.  The last block that we had was in July, and the difference between the first week and the 6th week were quite noticable!  He is starting to talk a little bit more (using actual words - he makes alot of sounds) now that Parker is getting more vocal.  All of this help is certainly something to celebrate!  Its not like its really work at all - its all fun play and positive encouragement to maximize the future that Lincoln holds.