Re: imaginary friends

[Guest guest]

It's interesting all of the postings about imaginary friends and MDS. (It's

too early for my son w/ MDS, 13 mo., to register either way on this topic

although my " typical " daughter, 3 1/2 certainly spends a good portion of her

days talking to the tin woodman and scarecrow, her " friends. " )

I have all sorts of questions about this topic. In a way, it seems like a

positive sign so many of our kids are engaged with imaginary friends since from

what I know the ability to imagine is a high level function, the wellspring

of creativity. Is there a way of channeling this creativity I wonder? At the

same time, I wonder if this is also a compensatory behavior--ie. if a young

person is having trouble making friends or is socially immature, perhaps this

is a way to compensate. I don't have MDS but I was very socially immature as a

young person, very shy, and believe me I had an enormous cast of characters

in my head, mostly based on real people, with whom I interacted whenever

" real life " got too painful--(the difference was, perhaps(?) that I knew, if

pressed, that my daydreams weren't real and I didn't talk to my imaginary

friends

out loud.) Only when my real social life got better and I became better able

to channel my daydreams into real actions and creativity did my fantasy life

take the back burner. But I guess my questions are, might fantasizing be a

compensatory behavior for kids with MDS? Do your kids who are doing this know

that their friends are pretend? Is there a way of channeling these fantasies

into creative endeavors or external social growth?

This is also pure speculation but maybe geneticists on our list serv might

speculate with more basis. Links have been found between Alzheimer's and the

daydreaming function of the brain getting stuck on, then wearing out. (I'm

oversimplifying this, and hopefully not misinterpreting it.) And as we know

there seems to be a tendency for people with DS to experience early onset

Alzheimers. I'm wondering if there's anything to explore among these factors to

contribute to our understanding of Alzheimer's and DS/MDS? [My concern in this

area is personal as well, not only bc my son has MDS but bc my mother has early

onset dementia and I'm terrified of developing this myself.]

If anyone has any concrete/genetic/scientific knowledge that might

contribute to my speculations or any anecdotal observations that would, let me

know,

please. Thanks!

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 3/11/2006 5:31:42 AM Pacific Standard Time,

krsosno@... writes:

But I guess my questions are, might fantasizing be a

compensatory behavior for kids with MDS?

It very well could be for my son... at 13, I think he knows he's somehow

different, but maybe not clear on why. While sometimes, he gets going with his

" friends " out of boredom (long car rides, etc) It's usually at the end of the

school day...he'll go into his room and close the door and let it rip!

Sometimes it keeps him from interacting with the family, and we have to go and

" invite " him to do something with us... watch a movie, dinner, etc.

You have a lot of good questions, and thoughts on this... I don't know if any

study has been done, but, it would definately be interesting!

~ANGEL~

mom to (13) Mosaic Down Syndrome/Hirschsprung's Disease

Lance (17), Tyler (14), (11)

Jaeda (9) and Shayne (3)

[Guest guest]

,

I am currently reading on Alzheimer's research and Down syndrome. We at IMDSA

are working to get MDS research with Alzheimer disease, so we can better

understand all the aspects of it. I can not say too much about our project just

yet, because it is in its very early stages, but hopefully soon we will be able

to begin the research and come up with answers.

Once I am through reading all this research, I will probably make a summary of

it all so everyone will understand what the links are. It will take a while

because it is a very large packet that I received from the Institute of Basic

Research on all the research they have done concerning dementia, Alzheimer

disease, Down syndrome and mosaic Down syndrome.

Kristy

krsosno@... wrote:

It's interesting all of the postings about imaginary friends and MDS. (It's

too early for my son w/ MDS, 13 mo., to register either way on this topic

although my " typical " daughter, 3 1/2 certainly spends a good portion of her

days talking to the tin woodman and scarecrow, her " friends. " )

I have all sorts of questions about this topic. In a way, it seems like a

positive sign so many of our kids are engaged with imaginary friends since from

what I know the ability to imagine is a high level function, the wellspring

of creativity. Is there a way of channeling this creativity I wonder? At the

same time, I wonder if this is also a compensatory behavior--ie. if a young

person is having trouble making friends or is socially immature, perhaps this

is a way to compensate. I don't have MDS but I was very socially immature as a

young person, very shy, and believe me I had an enormous cast of characters

in my head, mostly based on real people, with whom I interacted whenever

" real life " got too painful--(the difference was, perhaps(?) that I knew, if

pressed, that my daydreams weren't real and I didn't talk to my imaginary

friends

out loud.) Only when my real social life got better and I became better able

to channel my daydreams into real actions and creativity did my fantasy life

take the back burner. But I guess my questions are, might fantasizing be a

compensatory behavior for kids with MDS? Do your kids who are doing this know

that their friends are pretend? Is there a way of channeling these fantasies

into creative endeavors or external social growth?

This is also pure speculation but maybe geneticists on our list serv might

speculate with more basis. Links have been found between Alzheimer's and the

daydreaming function of the brain getting stuck on, then wearing out. (I'm

oversimplifying this, and hopefully not misinterpreting it.) And as we know

there seems to be a tendency for people with DS to experience early onset

Alzheimers. I'm wondering if there's anything to explore among these factors to

contribute to our understanding of Alzheimer's and DS/MDS? [My concern in this

area is personal as well, not only bc my son has MDS but bc my mother has early

onset dementia and I'm terrified of developing this myself.]

If anyone has any concrete/genetic/scientific knowledge that might

contribute to my speculations or any anecdotal observations that would, let me

know,

please. Thanks!

[Guest guest]

There is a study on " Self-Talk " in people with Down syndrome. This lies in the

same area of imaginary friends. We featured an article in MOSAIC WORLD a couple

of years ago, I will see if I can get the article and send it to you all later

on.

Kristy

LDSAngel77@... wrote:

In a message dated 3/11/2006 5:31:42 AM Pacific Standard Time,

krsosno@... writes:

But I guess my questions are, might fantasizing be a

compensatory behavior for kids with MDS?

It very well could be for my son... at 13, I think he knows he's somehow

different, but maybe not clear on why. While sometimes, he gets going with his

" friends " out of boredom (long car rides, etc) It's usually at the end of the

school day...he'll go into his room and close the door and let it rip!

Sometimes it keeps him from interacting with the family, and we have to go and

" invite " him to do something with us... watch a movie, dinner, etc.

You have a lot of good questions, and thoughts on this... I don't know if any

study has been done, but, it would definately be interesting!

~ANGEL~

mom to (13) Mosaic Down Syndrome/Hirschsprung's Disease

Lance (17), Tyler (14), (11)

Jaeda (9) and Shayne (3)