Secondary Students

www.downsyndromevictoria.org.au 1300 658 873

This slide show celebrates diversity.

We are all unique but in a way we are also the same.

We are all different…

the colour of our hair, the colour of our eyes?

Some of us like reading, some like sport.

Some people are outgoing,

and some are shy.

We’re all unique.

We don’t have to be exactly

the same to enjoy being together.

We’d like to introduce you

to four different people now.

Meet Pheobe

She loves the beach and surf lifesaving.

Pheobe enjoys

athletics and

she’s a great

runner.

She also

participates in

cross country

and swimming.

This is Jackson

Jackson goes to a Special Development high school and he loves swimming.

Jackson attends

Drama classes.

He recently

acted on the

TV show

Blue Heelers.

He also plays

several musical instruments.

This is Emily

Emily loves singing andsong writing.

Emily and Michael are

engaged to be married.

Emily attends a day

training program

where she learns

life skills, so she can

get a job and move out

of home one day.

Meet Jeremy

Jeremy enjoys playing the drums.

Jeremy works

at KFC.

He loves his job.

• They all have Down syndrome

• They were born with Down syndrome, and will always have it

• Down syndrome is not an illness or a disease.

You can’t catch it!

• People with Down syndrome have some physical characteristics that make them look similar but they mainly look like their families

• The name, Down syndrome, comes from the Doctor who first described it, Dr John Langdon Down

Even though they are all very different they have one thing in common….

What is Down syndrome?

Our bodies are

made of millions

of cells.

Each cell has 23

pairs of

chromosomes

(46 chromosomes

in each cell).Picture of normal Chromosomes

People with Down syndrome have an extra chromosome 21.

Most babies born with Down syndrome have an extra chromosome 21 in every cell in their body.

This very small difference causes Down syndrome – we know how it happens but we do not yet know why.

Picture of Chromosomes of someone with Down syndrome

Chromosomes carry the blue print or growing plan that tells our bodies how to develop.

Having the extra chromosome makes

the growing plan work

a little differently for people with Down syndrome.

About 60 babies are born with

Down syndrome in Victoria every year

Babies with

Down syndrome

need lots of love

and attention,

just like other

babies.

Young children with Down syndrome attend

Early Intervention from a very early age to get

them ready for kindergarden and school.

The therapists at Early

Intervention work to

improve their speech,

physical and

socialisation skills.

• Children with Down syndrome may learn things more slowly than other children.

• Children with Down syndrome often need extra help to learn some things.

People with Down syndrome have all the same feelings that we all have – they get happy, sad,

angry, frustrated…. just as we all do.

People with Down syndrome

may not speak quite

as clearly as you and

they may take longer

to learn some things.

But…

They usually understand a lot

more than they can say…

Everyone needs friends

If you have a friend with a

disability treat them the same

as your other friends.• Find out what their interests are

• Include them in activities

• Invite them over

• Call them after school for a chat

Remember that they probably enjoy the same things that you do.

Friendship

Sometimes you mayneed to help yourfriend, but mostly they’lllike to be independent.

Encourage them to have a go.

Everyone likes to be independent and be given a chance tohave a go at things.

Just be patient and allowthem time to work things out.

People withDown syndromemay look a bitdifferent andmay take a littlelonger to process some conceptsbut...

Look around you,

everyone’s

different….

Wouldn’t life be

boring if everyone

was the same?

The end…