RE: plateauing

[Guest guest]

No. It’s a myth.

There is no evidence to support the view that children with Down syndrome

reach some ceiling in learning by adolescence and do not go beyond it.

Studies following children over time have disproved this myth.

People with Down syndrome continue to develop reading and writing, speech

and language, independence and social skills into adult life.

-Living with Down Syndrome, Dr. Sue Buckley

_____

From: [mailto: ] On Behalf

Of angie

Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 9:46 AM

Down_Syndromegroups (DOT) Com; downsyndromegroups (DOT) Com; Upsndowns;

Homeschoolinganddownsyndromegroups (DOT) Com

Subject: plateauing

Citrus Punch

You know how we've all heard about kids plateauing? Well, Ive tried not to

put too much into that and just let things be.....but then on Friday a sped

ed teacher and I were just talking....and she said something about kids or

Sydnie or whatever she said and one day plateauing...and it got me to

thinking again (I hate when that happens).....

How many of you have seen it or see it now?

May God Bless You As He Has Us

~Angie~

~~DREAM BIG~~

An extra little chromosome,

that's all it is, you see.

Where all of you were born with two,

I was blessed with three.

[Guest guest]

Trent is 23 and I would say he is still learning - though not very

interested in formal education anymore, really wanting more life experience

learning.

Keep smiling

Jan, mother of Trent 23yo w/DS from the LandDownUnder

plateauing

Citrus Punch

You know how we've all heard about kids plateauing? Well, Ive tried not to

put too much into that and just let things be.....but then on Friday a sped

ed teacher and I were just talking....and she said something about kids or

Sydnie or whatever she said and one day plateauing...and it got me to

thinking again (I hate when that happens).....

How many of you have seen it or see it now?

May God Bless You As He Has Us

~Angie~

~~DREAM BIG~~

An extra little chromosome,

that's all it is, you see.

Where all of you were born with two,

I was blessed with three.

[Guest guest]

I am very interested in this subject and would appreciate any information on

where I can find more about it. This year, my daughter Ana has a new teacher,

since she had to go from elementary to secondary level in the especial education

school. On the first meeting with us parents, the teacher told us about her

program for this year and said that we should not expect to have a lot of

academic, that she has been working so many years and knows that children with

ds reach a stage where they don't learn anymore! She rather takes them out and

teach them by telling and showing and explaining. She believes they learn more

this way than sitting on a school bank getting bored listening to something they

do not understand. I am sure she meant plateauing.

Bonnie (mother to Ana 15-ds) living in Belgium

----- Mensaje original ----

De: Jan Marie <janmarie21@...>

Para: ralph lowenthal <lowenthalrj@...>; angie

<atate526@...>; " Down_Syndromegroups (DOT) Com "

<down_syndrome >; downsyndromegroups (DOT) Com; Upsndowns

< >; " Homeschoolinganddownsyndromegroups (DOT) Com "

<homeschoolinganddownsyndrome >

Enviado: martes, 30 de octubre, 2007 6:55:25

Asunto: RE: plateauing

Trent is 23 and I would say he is still learning - though not very

interested in formal education anymore, really wanting more life experience

learning.

Keep smiling

Jan, mother of Trent 23yo w/DS from the LandDownUnder

plateauing

Citrus Punch

You know how we've all heard about kids plateauing? Well, Ive tried not to

put too much into that and just let things be.....but then on Friday a sped

ed teacher and I were just talking....and she said something about kids or

Sydnie or whatever she said and one day plateauing.. .and it got me to

thinking again (I hate when that happens).... .

How many of you have seen it or see it now?

May God Bless You As He Has Us

~Angie~

~~DREAM BIG~~

An extra little chromosome,

that's all it is, you see.

Where all of you were born with two,

I was blessed with three.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 10/29/2007 10:50:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

lowenthalrj@... writes:

People with Down syndrome continue to develop reading and writing, speech

and language, independence and social skills into adult life.

And Jan is testament to this! I also had a meeting with Micah's team of

teachers last week and we were discussing the benefit (which I have been trying

to get them to do), for all the team learning sign language. I explained

that when Micah forgets a word sometimes if I sign it, the word will come out

spontaneously. Sign language reinforces his learning of new words. The

multi-modal approach is best for him. Anyway the assistant principal said " I

really think we should all learn sign language so that as his speech plateaus,

(and she turned to me and said " You know his speech will plateau) then turned

back to everyone and said " so it would be best if we learned the sign language

so that when this happens he can continue to progress in sign language. "

Evben though I thought at the time... " how little you know, Micah will continue

to grow and learn until the day he dies...just tlike the rest of us. "

Instead smiled and said " I think that is a great idea! " Sometimes you gotta

play

the game and when you do you win~~~~the cat that swallowed the canary

smile!!!!! So Angie this thinking is prevalent but it doesn't mean it is

correct.

Loree

************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 10/30/2007 9:42:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

michdock@... writes:

I think we all go through periods were we are less inclined to be working

and you know what I learned early on with Micah. We all learn very

differently! Whenever he is seeming to have a " plateau " he is actually still

learning. I can rremember when he was small and I would continue to go over

something ad nauseum and say to myself. " He is just not getting this " Then

WHAM

all of a sudden he would just " Get It " . In actuallity he didn't JUST get it he

had been learning all along. I just didn't see signs that he was learning.

He seems to take things in and you do not know he is and then he seems to

" get it " very weird but it is the way he learns and I wonder if that is what

happens with alot of our kids. When they seem to be just hangin...they are

hangin with their minds being filled lol.

Loree

************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com

[Guest guest]

That's how it was for too... it was like there wasn't a lot of

gradually learning something... she'd just hear it over and over again,

and then one day decide to do it. We always described her learning as a

long plateau, and then a huge spike, rather than the gradual

assimilation of material that we see with our other kids. This was true

for things like walking (we knew she could, but she wouldn't, and then

one day just walked, not the typical few steps then fall, then go

further... she just finally got off the floor and walked, LOL) as well

as academics we now see in school. However, we've never believed in the

" kids with DS will hit a plateau and not learn more " .... it's just a

myth, like they are all nice and sweet 24/7, LOL

My 2 cents on our lifelong learning is: we all continue to learn, but

as we get older, we learn differently, perhaps more slowley. Who has

had the humbling experience of getting a new cell phone at the same time

as one of their kids? Who had the new phone programmed faster? Who

knew more functions and features of the new phone? Who had to ask who

" how do I speed dial? "

, mom to (12), (9 DS), and Sammy (8)

Loree5@... wrote:

>

> In a message dated 10/30/2007 9:42:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

> michdock@... <mailto:michdock%40msn.com> writes:

>

> I think we all go through periods were we are less inclined to be working

>

> and you know what I learned early on with Micah. We all learn very

> differently! Whenever he is seeming to have a " plateau " he is actually

> still

> learning. I can rremember when he was small and I would continue to go

> over

> something ad nauseum and say to myself. " He is just not getting this "

> Then WHAM

> all of a sudden he would just " Get It " . In actuallity he didn't JUST

> get it he

> had been learning all along. I just didn't see signs that he was

> learning.

> He seems to take things in and you do not know he is and then he seems to

> " get it " very weird but it is the way he learns and I wonder if that

> is what

> happens with alot of our kids. When they seem to be just hangin...they

> are

> hangin with their minds being filled lol.

>

> Loree

>

> ************************************** See what's new at

> http://www.aol.com <http://www.aol.com>

>

>

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 10/30/2007 10:23:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

leslie-kerrigan@... writes:

Who has

had the humbling experience of getting a new cell phone at the same time

as one of their kids? Who had the new phone programmed faster? Who

knew more functions and features of the new phone? Who had to ask who

" how do I speed dial? "

TOUCHE!

************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com

[Guest guest]

We were told that Jan was about to plateau when she was 15, but her

teachers continued to move her forward from wherever she was. Since we

didn't have an aversion to IQ testing in school, it was interesting that

her IQ measurements were roughly the same from the beginning to the end

of her schooling.

Jan is still learning. She is also loosing some of the things she once

could do like long division. Then again, I've lost my quickness dealing

with partial differential equations. That isn't plateauing, it is just

that you lose proficiency in areas you don't use whether it is physical

or mental. Usually proficiency can be brought back, but not without

some effort.

On the other hand if they decide that it no longer makes sense to teach

a child (with or without ds) forward from the knowledge that they have

(with reviews after summer break, etc.) then the child will be

plateaued, but not because it is part of DS. This can also happen if a

child chooses not to learn as well, as happens to many without DS who

choose not to study or to drop out. Education takes effort on both ends.

Just one parent's opinion.

Rick

[Guest guest]

I wonder if people think our kids plateau because for a couple of reasons.

1. as our kids age often the gap between them and their peers widens. 2. when

formal schooling ends our kids often don't have the opportunity to tap into

educational resources. Most adults in our area go to a work site where people

don't help them practice their reading skills or the variety of other skills

that may still be emerging but need nurturing.

I worked with adults and kids with disabilities for many years and the only

time I see people " plateau " is when people quit giving them the access to

mentally stimulating activity.

Karyn

************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com

[Guest guest]

Nic will go thru a nice learning spurt then seems to stall (plateau) but he

always comes back and begins taking off again with his accomplishments.

Di

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

[Guest guest]

Sammy is only 2 1/2, but I've

seen how learning continues

with age.

My co-worker with Down

syndrome is in his early 30's.

He is just as capable of

learning new skills as the

rest of us at the library. I

spoke with his supervisor once

on this subject and she said

the thing she has learned over

MANY years of working with

adults who have disabilities

is the importance to break new

things down into parts. She

teaches the skill one part at

a time and builds on the parts

until the whole sequence has

been learned. She doesn't add

a new step until the previous

steps have been learned

properly and are correctly in

place. Never in her 20 some

years of supervising adults

with disabilities has she

encountered one who couldn't

learn.

I would say if your child has

plateaued to look at how the

skill is being taught or how

the information is being

presented. We've seen this

already with Sammy. Sometimes

I have to step back and look

at things from her perspective

and put them in to a context

that she can understand - or

is willing to work with. I try

to build on her strengths -

not force her to fix her

weaknesses. I can only hope

that this approach continues

to help her grow and achieve

as she gets older.

~

plateauing

I think we all go through

periods were we are less

inclined to be working,

learning, pushing ourselves.

Wouldn't that be considered a

plateau? But then, we perk up

and move on.

Maverick moved to a new school

this year that has a whole new

attitude about TEACHING him.

He has learned more this first

quarter in school than he has

in the past 4 years. He'll be

17 in November. He's not

plateaued.

(He just got his report card

yesterday and was looking at

it this morning. His progress

note had been all A's. The

report card had a B. He said,

disappointedly, " Oh mom, I got

a B. " I told him that I had

seen that and asked him what

class he got a B in. He looked

some more and said, " Gray. "

And I said, " Yes, and what

class does Miss Gray teach. "

And he said, " Math. " So then

we had the talk about how he

had to work harder in Math.

All this is so cool to me for

him to learn to read his

report card and KNOW that he

needs to get A's. )

Then there is , who at

45, moved from Wisconsin to

Arizona and is learning a

whole new life. He's learning

to live with a family instead

of a group home, learning all

his new routines and chores,

even learning that his

allegiance to sports teams is

changing. We got a new foster

child who is in a spica cast.

He quickly is picking up that

I need him to bring certain

blankets and towels when I am

moving him.

We are seeing and hearing

about children (adults, but

still our children) moving out

on their own, getting jobs,

getting married!!! This all

takes learning new things.

I, personally don't by that

" plateau theory AT ALL.

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