Child with DS (Down Syndrome) and with a behavioral problem

Alicia - posted on 07/10/2011

I do not have a son with ds but I do have a brother with ds who just turned 30. Over the years the best advice I could give would be to make sure you follow through with any threat and to make the threat appropriate. Again my brother is older and we have to understand he is different. To say to him if you do not get up and go to work means you are homeless means nothing as he will never be homeless. When we need Todd to change a behaviour that is needed to function in everyday life we need to find a choice we can give him where it is his choice. He is living on his own so unless he gets up to go to work he will have to live in a home with 4 other people and staff to make sure that he gets up and going in the morning. When he went to school if he couldn't get up he could not watch wrestling that night as he would stay up too late. I guess what I am saying is we want the ds people in our lives to live life just like everyone else does but in the same breath we need to realize they do live life differently and we need to embrace that sometimes to understand how to help them.

PaT - posted on 02/12/2010

what kind of outbursts????? my son cory who will be 20 never really had bad behavior

problems in school. mostly he acted like a class clown. always trying to get attention

from everyone

Vicki - posted on 02/12/2010

I agree with all that is being said here. Sometimes I know that with our daughter when she is getting ready to cycle she gets very moody and has outbursts. She will test the boundaries especially if it is a new setting, you are tired or she is tired. Sometimes it is because they feel frustrated that no one understands them. I think that if you went to the school and observed undetected that would help too and speaking to a behavioral specialist and having them observe her. Keeping a journal also helps for future to see if it falls around a certain time of the month or whatever. Hope that this works and know that you are not alone, we all have moments (big or small)!!

Stephanie - posted on 02/11/2010

That is an extremely good possibility. I have noticed in my blog groups people saying their child is very moody and I have no idea if the hormone fluctuations experienced with a period are different for girls with DS. I can't speak from expierence since my son is only 2. But other things that I have noticed to cause mood changes especially at school is stress. Falling behind academically or struggling. Also any kind of social tension at school can cause outburst which only increase the tension. Just some ideas hope it helps.

Susan - posted on 02/09/2010

I have a younger daughter with DS. She has some minor behavioral issues, some of which I think stem from her not being able to communicate as well as she wants to. I requested a behavioral specialist provided by our school district to observe her and to suggest stratigies help out in these situations. Sometimes it helps if you have a third party looking at the situation. You might also want to try seeing another doctor, if that is the only help you are getting from him or her.

Dana - posted on 02/09/2010

My son has mosaic downs and so he is quite high functioning yet as he has reached puberty, it can get overwhelming at times. I have often scheduled meeting or sent emails to all his teachers to try and keep everyone on the same page. I think when they get in a new enviroment (or one with different boundaries) they really test the water. If they find out you are all in it together and you are working together for the best outcome, it seems to help (and also that you share information) and if the behavior comes up, consequences are in place, right away. The hard part of course is following through but it really helped me. I'd say, "Do you want me to call your teacher (even if it was a fake call) and or the teacher would sometimes call me directly, right in front of him and it only took a few times for him to get wise and straighten up some. I have had him write sentences to the people whom he challenged and then he would have to take them to them and it helped with accountability. And just as important, I'd reward him for all good days (and behavior as well)!!! Good luck, hang in there!

Jennifer - posted on 02/09/2010

my son is 10 years old he cant talk...he had so many outburst only at school i got phone calls almost everyday saying my son was doin something he wasnt suppose to he would even pee on himself becuz he knew i would go get him from school, he would get really mad at me becuz he didnt want to get on the bus, later i found out he dislike the teacher not sure why until this day! he is at a different school now and is much happier i did everything i could to get him out of that school and in a much better setting! now i dont get any calls whats so ever my son has been at his new school for 6 months, maybe you should look in to things like i did..it may or may not be the teacher but i can tell you this something isnt right!

Brenda - posted on 02/08/2010

Maybe it's a teacher or another kid giving her a hard time especially if it only happens at school. I'd be doing some investigating, and asking her questions about her day. And I would go to school with her if I could to observe what's going on.



Does anyone else around her have outbursts? Adults included. Kids copy what they see, and test it out, too.