Introduction: What is Down syndrome?

Down syndrome is a form of intellectual disability caused by a genetic condition in which the

individual presents with an extra chromosome (CPL, 2020). Individuals with Down

syndrome typically develop at a slower rate than other children so will experience some delay

in skills compared to peers but, their skills will continue to progress throughout their life

(Down Syndrome International, 2020). There are many common difficulties students with

Down syndrome will experience, however each student is very different in their needs

depending on the severity of the syndrome, some students may struggle with medical

conditions, hearing or vision impairments or the development of speech and language but

some may not which is why support for students with Down syndrome must be specific to the

individual’s needs (Kendall, 2019). Most students with Down syndrome will have a learning

difficulty ranging from mild to severe and it needs to be addressed by the teacher (Bentley et

al., 2016). Bobby is a five-year-old student with Down syndrome who experiences

difficulties with communication, the learning environment, health, personal care and safety

(Education Services Australia, 2020). Bobby has a short stature, foot splints and severe

constipation which requires him to need assistance with toileting as well as a mild vision

impairment in which he needs hand-on-hand support to cross the road (Education Services

Australia, 2020). In terms of communication, Bobby was completely non-verbal when he

started school but since being included in a mainstream classroom he is now capable of using

two-word phrases (Education Services Australia, 2020). When it comes to Bobby’s learning

he has a good visual memory but tends to have a short attention span and fatigues easily

(Education Services Australia, 2020). Down syndrome will cause many difficulties for

students however with the support of an encouraging and understanding team of educators,

students with Down syndrome will be able to develop and thrive to the best of their ability.
 The impacts Down syndrome has on Bobby’s classroom experience:

As mentioned above, Bobby has some physical and cognitive difficulties that will impact on

his ability to function in a mainstream classroom. Bobby’s short stature and foot splints will

inhibit his ability to perform some gross motor movements required in the foundation

curriculum such as climbing, reaching for objects, running, walking and balancing (Education

Services Australia, 2020). As well as impacting on his motor skills, these difficulties may

also impact on his social and emotional wellbeing too as he may notice that he is much

shorter and not as capable at keeping up with his peers, along with his social skills as it is

more difficult for him to be able to interact with others through their play (Education Services

Australia, 2020). Bobby also has severe constipation, this will mean that he needs an assistant

with him at all times to toilet and also a toileting facility that is big enough to be accessible to

both him and an assistant (Education Services Australia, 2020). Bobby’s mild vision

impairment along with his short concentration span and difficulties in communicating will

impact on his academic ability and social and emotional wellbeing within the mainstream

classroom (Education Services Australia, 2020). Firstly, Bobby will need to have adaptions

made in order to see properly whether that be proximity adjustments, visual aids or an

assistant that can read or describe things to him as well as having clear pathways throughout

the classroom and playground so that there is less risk of him falling and injuring himself

(Bentley et al., 2016). When considering Bobby’s formal learning, adjustments will need to

be made to the curriculum to address his needs as well as assistance when completing

activities to keep him on tasks and to try and prevent him from unnecessarily fatiguing

(Westwood, 2015). Communication for Bobby will have a big impact on his learning

expectation as well as his social, emotional and personal development. There will need to be

a mode of communication that allows for Bobby to express his needs such as needing to go to

the toilet or having a drink (Bentley et al., 2016). There will also be a big impact on Bobby’s
interaction with peers which will rely heavily on physical interaction as his language

development is not at the same level as everyone else’s (Westwood, 2015). There will be

many impacts Bobby’s condition will have on his learning experience however, the teacher

and assistant can modify the classroom in order to provide him with a positive learning

experience in a mainstream school which has been proven to be extremely beneficial for

development in students with Down syndrome (Kendall, 2019).

The considerations for the teacher to include Bobby in the classroom:

It is the teacher’s role to accommodate students with special needs in a mainstream classroom

as stated under the Equality Act, 2010, that no student should be discriminated against due to

a special educational need (Bentley et al., 2016). When planning and assessing to include

students with Down syndrome in the classroom it is important for the teacher to consider the

individuals specific needs (Down Syndrome International, 2020). In Bobby’s case the teacher

would need to start by considering the facilities and services available to accommodate him.

Bobby requires having two full-time educational assistants with him for learning and personal

needs, however, the presence of the support staff should not prevent Bobby from being a

member of the class or developing his independence (Education Services Australia, 2020).

The teacher needs to plan routines and practices in collaboration with the school and Bobby’s

parents so that there is consistency within his life. The teacher would need to work with

Bobby, his previous educators and parents on how he would communicate his needs, how

these are being met, for example toileting, and then having a facility that is supportive and

appropriate for Bobby’s needs, as well as keeping records of everything that happens. Within

the classroom the teacher also needs to take into consideration physical adaptions such as

adjustable chairs, support cushions and stools and railings as well as making the classroom

accessible to Bobby through positioning things at his height, making sure there are no
obstructions in his pathway and having lots of visual cues such as red lines and stop signs to

indicate where he is allowed to go (Education Services Australia, 2020). For Bobby’s formal

learning, the teacher will need to work with his prior educators from the early learning centre

and the school to adapt the curriculum in order to suit his level of cognitive development. The

general capabilities should be the main focus when adapting the curriculum for Bobby’s age

and developmental stage through using lots of visual learning tasks as this is his strength and

making sure the tasks are short and structured so that he stays engaged and doesn’t get too

fatigued (Education Services Australia, 2020). There should be high expectations for Bobby

based on his ability which will teach him to persevere when he is faced with challenges

(Westwood, 2015). The educational assistants and specialist teachers need to be informed

about Bobby’s differentiated learning plan as they will be the ones delivering it to him

through one on one instruction for two and a half hours a day and Bobby’s parents also need

to understand how his learning is being accommodated (Education Services Australia, 2020).

The teacher should endeavour to include Bobby in the class as much as possible, for example,

having him listen to the mat sessions for ten minutes and then moving to some individualised

work and having him involved in hands on whole class activities (Bentley et al., 2016). There

are lots of considerations when it comes to including students with Down syndrome in the

classroom which are important in making sure the student feels a sense of belonging and that

they are an equal member of the class.

The people responsible for meeting Bobby’s needs:

When working with a student who has been diagnosed with Down syndrome there are a

variety of people that are responsible for meeting the students needs. In Bobby’s case, the

team of people working with him includes a teacher, specialist teachers, support staff, speech

therapist and NDIS therapists as well as admin staff within the school (Education Services
Australia, 2020). Everyone needs to work together and provide a consistent approach to

meeting Bobby’s needs. In terms of curriculum adaption, this requires the teacher and

therapist to be involved in making decisions about which activities, learning tasks, programs

and assistive technology will address Bobby’s educational needs as well as suiting his

cognitive abilities and inclusion into the class. When it comes to his every day needs, it is the

responsibility of the teacher and support staff to keep him safe, assist in his learning and to

support him in eating, toileting and drinking. This requires the teacher to create timetables

that ensure Bobby is supervised when needed. Adaptions to be made to the classroom are the

teacher’s responsibility, however it requires the teacher to have discussions with the school

about things that may need to be installed such as the railing in the toilets or communication

programs and devices that may need to be purchased (Bentley et al., 2016). Bobby has a

visual impairment which may require the teacher to be responsible for making sure he is

wearing his glasses, increasing the size of something on the board, placing Bobby close to

what he needs to look at or enlarging font (Westwood, 2015). It is important that all people

involved have Bobby’s best interest in mind and that they are catering to his requirements,

this is best achieved through strong communication between each member of the team and a

consistent and direct approach (Bentley et al., 2016).

How Bobby’s social, emotional and academic needs will be met:

To address Bobby’s needs within the classroom there are many considerations. Socially, it is

important for the teacher to plan whole-class learning opportunities that Bobby can be

involved in so that he feels like he is part of the class and can engage in interactions with

peers which will support his development of social skills (Westwood, 2015). There needs to

be lots of visual cues and visual timetables so that Bobby can communicate with the teacher

and his peers, this will help him to engage in conversations and interactions which will
immerse him in language and further his development (Bentley, et al., 2016). It is also

important to have class programs focused on accepting everyone and that everyone is

different in order to ensure Bobby’s peers are supportive and accepting of his differences.

Emotionally, Bobby would present much younger than his age which means emotional

expressions could present as tantrums or meltdowns and draw negative attention to him

(Down Syndrome International, 2020). Bobby may also find it hard to communicate why he

may be feeling a certain way due to his lack of emotional regulation as well as having

feelings of low self-esteem due to being different to his peers. It is important that the teacher

makes adaptions to try and prevent these emotional difficulties from occurring such as

creating timetables and discussing things with Bobby prior to them happening, providing him

with emotional literacy to develop his understanding of how to deal with his feelings, and

providing positive encouragement and support to him in a welcoming and accepting

classroom. Academically, Bobby needs lots of adaptions which have been previously

mentioned, the most important thing to focus on is explicit and short instruction and activities

to suit his lower concentration span and his cognitive ability (Westwood, 2015). Due to his

lower cognitive abilities, the teacher needs to identify Bobby’s strengths which are visual

memory and use these to develop activities that he will be able to complete (Education

Services Australia, 2020). The teacher should work on providing Bobby with one step

instructions to ensure he will be able to understand what it is he has to do (Education Services

Australia, 2020). Most adaptions made are the responsibility of the teacher which will allow

the student with Down syndrome the best chance at functioning as effectively as possible in a

mainstream classroom.

The teacher’s communication with Bobby’s parents and caregivers:

important to communicate and include the parents or caregivers in the child’s life at school

(Kendall, 2019). There are a variety of ways that the teacher can communicate with the

parents or care givers of their children such as having meetings, writing notes, sending

emails, phone calls and in Bobby’s case keeping records of routines so that his parents can

obtain these if needed for doctors’ appointments or other specialist appointments. Parents

should be included in discussions about the students individualised education plan therefore

inviting them to meetings with the team of educators implementing it would be an effective

way of involving them. Another consideration mentioned is that Bobby’s parents are really

supportive and will attend excursions as extra support for the staff (Education Services

Australia, 2020). It is important to communicate with parents of children with Down

syndrome as it helps them feel involved and understand what is happening while their child is

a school as well as helping to inform the teacher of things they may not know about the child.

(Down Syndrome International, 2020).

Conclusion:

There are many considerations for teachers when working with students who have Down

syndrome around their academic, social, emotional and physical capabilities. It is so

important for teachers to adapt and modify as much as they can to make the classroom a

positive environment in which students with Down syndrome can thrive in as they deserve

the same opportunities as all other students to learn and develop (Down Syndrome

International, 2020). Working in collaboration with different people involved in supporting

the student and providing a consistent and explicit approach to teaching students with Down

syndrome is extremely effective in progressing their cognitive abilities and involving parents

and caregivers in the student’s life at school is critical in making sure everyone is supportive
of the routines and practices that will assist them in functioning successfully (Bentley et al.,

2016).

References:

Bentley, L., Dance, R., Morling, E., Miller, S., & Wong, S. (2016). Supporting children with
down’s syndrome (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Choice, passion, life [CPL]. (2018). Understanding down syndrome.
https://www.cpl.org.au/resources/understanding-disbility/what-is-down-syndrome

Down Syndrome International. (2020). Down syndrome explained: Education.

Education Services Australia. (2020). Nationally consistent collection of data on school

Kendall, L. (2019). Supporting children with down syndrome within mainstream education
settings: Parental reflections. International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early
Years Education, 47(2), 135-137. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2017.1412488

Westwood, P. (2015) Commonsense methods for children with special educational needs (7th
ed.). London: Routledge Falmer.