Milena was a 6-year-old girl who was referred to her school psychologist by her
ID: 3488455 • Letter: M
Question
Milena was a 6-year-old girl who was referred to her school psychologist by her pediatrician. Milena was diagnosed with Down syndrome when she was an infant. Her pediatrician wanted Milena’s cognitive and academic achievement skills to be reassessed before she began kindergarten this academic year. Milena’s gestation and delivery were uncomplicated. However, Milena was born with a congenital heart defect that required several surgeries. Milena showed physical features associated with Down syndrome. For example, she had a small nose with a flat nasal bridge, almond-shaped eyes, and broad hands with short fingers. Each of her palms had a single transverse crease rather than the many folds seen in most children. Milena showed delays in achieving developmental milestones, especially in the areas of gross motor functioning (e.g., sitting up, walking), fine motor skills (e.g., feeding and dressing herself), and expressive communication (e.g., saying her first words, using two- or three-word phrases). Fortunately, Milena’s parents became active in her education and in a local support group for the caregivers of children with Down syndrome. Milena participated in occupational therapy and speech–language therapy as a toddler and attended a full-day enrichment preschool for children with special needs. Results of the WISC-V indicated that Milena’s full scale IQ was 57, falling in the low range of intellectual functioning. Milena performed better on tests assessing her visual–spatial reasoning and nonverbal fluid reasoning than tests assessing her verbal comprehension skills. Her preschool teacher said that she often learned better through demonstrations and “hands-on” learning than from verbal instruction. Milena showed good eye contact when speaking with others, obeyed classroom rules, and enjoyed playing with other children. Also, with extensive practice, she learned to perform most self-care skills such as bathing, dressing, and cleaning her room. On the other hand, Milena continued to show problems learning her numbers, the alphabet, and the value of money. Her reading skills were poor and her handwriting was mostly illegible. Interpersonally, Milena presented as a charming girl who loved to play with her classmates and spend time with her parents. Her favorite hobbies included soccer, playing with her dog, and helping her parents cook meals. Her parents called her “the cheerful robin” because of her tendency to get up early in the morning and her friendly, social disposition.
Please answer the following questions in complete sentences.
1) What prenatal tests might Milena’s mother have taken to determine the risk that Milena would be born with Down syndrome? Which of these tests carries the greatest risk to the fetus?
2) Milena’s school psychologist would likely use the results of her assessment to generate an IEP for Milena. What is an IEP?
3) If you were Milena’s teacher, how might you use principles of universal design to help Milena learn to read and perform mathematics?
4) In what way might having a child with a known genetic disorder, like Down syndrome, be easier than having child with a developmental disability of unknown origin?
Explanation / Answer
1)The prenatal tests for the diagnosis of Down's syndrome include--amniocentesis i.e testing of amniotic fluid of mother inside the uterus containing foetus, analysis of blood sample for various protein antigens for example maternal plasma protein A ,maternal human chorionic gonadotropin A protein antigen in blood.Futther ultrasound and radiodiagnosis should be performed to check the growth of foetus inside the uterus of mother after proper certification and authorization of medical testing organization and doctor physician from government medical council of the country.
2)IED-Individual educational disability act which is set up by the governmental authority in USA to test and analyse the learning potential of a child with disability along with the analysis of the budget required for unerstanding the career potential of the child.Further emphasis should be to provide the right nourishment and care with proper environment for the development of child.
3)Universal design for learning programs have been developed by teachers for students with disabilities in various subjects like mathematics and other sciences with depiction of symbols.words, alphabets,mechanisms in the form of diagrams and models.Further communication skills and learning potential of the child is also improvised carefully in the form of symbols with visual depiction of various situations and scenarios in real life situations.Further psychology and behavioral analysis modules for the children are developed with emphasis on the daily requirements of the children in proper environment.
4)In children with developemntal disability, communication problems, lack of intelligence, voice and speech disorders with fragile mental disorders require a lot of care and nourishment as the brain regions of such children are not developed and may have lack of vision also in comparison to children with trisomy of chromosomes like down syndrome, the symptoms include lack of physical growth but mental attributes are developed along with speech and vision and communication is easily achieved in the form of depictorial signs and symbols with less serious mental retardation in child as the brain regions are not destroyed.