WELCOME TO DOWN SYNDROME LIVERPOOL NEWSLETTER
 
 

The DSA Liverpool Branch is dead, long live Down Syndrome Liverpool!

Well, it’s done. At the AGM on 10th June 2003, (thanks to those who attended), the final accounts for the branch were accepted and then came the big vote.
With some sadness for our years as a branch, the vote was taken to finally close the Liverpool Branch and return all DSA notepaper etc. to National Office.
The vote was in favour and unanimous.

As of 10th June 2003, there is no longer a Liverpool Branch of the DSA.
The good news is, of course, that the work of the branch is now taken over fully by the new charity, Down Syndrome Liverpool (that’s us!). We are affiliated to the DSA, which means we will still work together to provide the best support we can for people with Down syndrome in our area.

As members, it is important that you make your needs known to us. We are a membership-led charity and, provided it is within our constitution and ability, we will do what you, the members, want us to do but you must
let us know.

It is also important that any cheques for the proceeds of any fund-raising you may do, or any donations that are
sent to us, are made out to “Down Syndrome Liverpool”. Anything made out to the old branch would not be accepted by the bank.

You will also find enclosed with this newsletter, a poster* which shows our new name. Please use these posters
by asking your local doctor, church, school or any places where people meet, if they would mind displaying
them. We need to spread the word around that we are here.

Finally I would like to thank the DSA committee for their hard work and support during their term with DSA
Liverpool Branch.

Colin Hill
Chair, Down Syndrome Liverpool.

(*NB, This newsletter is a copy of the one we send by post to our members -  obviously we cannot enclose a poster in the web-site but these posters are available from us by writing to us at the address on our main page if you would like one).

THYROID FUNCTION -  IS YOUR THYROID FUNCTIONING?

Every child at birth has a Thyroid Function Test (TFT) and within days of Daniel being born we were told that
his was normal. Although, at the back of my mind, I can remember reading that children with Down syndrome
should be tested every couple of years, I gave no further thought to Thyroids and their function until Daniel
was five and a half years old. At a routine developmental check, the paediatrician recommended that he
had a test as a matter of course. I came home and put the referral slip on the notice board with a view to getting
it done sometime, and there it stayed for 18 months!!!

Daniel was lively and energetic and I was confident that he had no signs and symptoms of an under-active thyroid gland. It was just a few months before his seventh birthday that I started to become concerned about Daniel’s weight gain. He had gone up two sizes in school shorts in the space of four months, he looked bloated and started to complain that he was tired.
His assistant at school had said that he was very lethargic in the afternoons and that she had difficulty in keeping
him going all day. I started to watch his diet more closely and decided at this point to get his TFT done, just so
that I could eliminate this as a possible problem. On the whole he was still lively and energetic most of the time at home.

Within a couple of weeks of the blood test, I had a call from Daniel’s paediatrician to say that he had an extremely low Thyroid Function - in other words he had a very underactive Thyroid gland. Daniel was referred to the Endocrine Consultant at Alder Hey who started him on Thyroxine tablets, which he will now have to take for the
rest of his life. Within a few months you could see a difference in him. He looked slimmer, less bloated and has never complained of being tired since. He has even more energy than ever and is passionate about his sport. He
has been taking the medication for about a year now and he has enjoyed a successful year at school with improved concentration and renewed enthusiasm.

For myself, I spent months feeling guilty about not having taken him for a test sooner. Things are difficult enough with Down syndrome without the added complication of an underactive thyroid. Daniel’s ability to compensate for this was remarkable, which may be why I wasn’t alerted to the fact that there was a problem earlier - just how long the condition went undetected we will never know.

The condition is easy to detect by means of a simple blood test and is even easier to treat. When was your thyroid function last tested?

Francesca Daley
DSL Parent Member

READING FOR YOUNG ADULTS WITH DOWN SYNDROME

Some time ago, I was asked by one of our parent members if I knew of any reading material that would meet the
needs of her 19 year old son. I was unable to help so posted an email (see below) on the Down’s Syndrome
UK list, asking if anyone had any suggestions. I received a reply from Jill O’Connor who lives in Sydney,
Australia and has a 17 year old son, Declan, who has Down syndrome.
Jill was subsequently contacted by Professor Sue Buckley of the Down Syndrome Educational Trust, asking if
she would be willing to expand on her email reply to me and write an article for publication in the DownsEd quarterly magazine.

The following is, therefore, reproduced with the kind permission of Jill O’Connor and Professor Sue Buckley.
The article appeared in Down Syndrome News and Update Volume 3 - Issue 1 - May 2003.

Pat Baxter
Treasurer DSL

Keeping Declan reading

“A friend of mine, who has a 19 year old son with Down's syndrome, asked me if I knew of any suitable reading
books for this age group. When her son left school, he announced that he wasn't going to read any more books
- I suppose this reaction could come from any young person! However, my friend is wondering if the reaction is
more to do with the fact that books written for ordinary teenagers/young adults are beyond her son's capabilities, whilst the books he can manage are too childish in content and, therefore, demeaning for him.
She is also concerned that reading is a skill which needs to be practised, she doesn't want her son to lose that skill.
Does anyone know of any suitable reading material for teenagers/young adults that would fit the bill?”

When this question appeared on the UK Down Syndrome email list early in 2003, I was compelled to reveal all
about my son's reading and TV/movie habits, and I have added some further thoughts about the importance of
reading to this 17 year old who is not fond of "school work".  It's not a prescription for teenage reading, just our experience, grown out of Declan's natural inclinations and access to good quality information made readily available to families like ours.

Declan (17) is a huge James Bond fan.  His favourite book, which he  knows extremely well, but enjoys re-reading often, is "The Secret Life  of Agent 007", published by Dorling Kindersley.  A large, "coffee-table" format, it is filled with photos and drawings of every James Bond movie (except the most recent one), locations, Bond girls,  villains, internal drawings of the various devices that Bond uses to save the world and that the villains use to  threaten it.  Not too many words, and the pictures are great.  Often he reads with and to his Dad, a closet James Bond fan.  He never asks me!

Declan remembers all these details, reinforced by his assiduous watching of the movies (he has the whole collection on video!), reading of "The Book", playing of the Nintendo 64 games, and his growing collection of fortnightly Bond magazines.  Yes he does a lot of other stuff too, but this is a favourite form of relaxation!

You can take a look at The Book here (some editions do not have the red cover):
http://uk.dk.com/Book/BookFrame/0,1007,,00.html?id=075132860X   (or just put James Bond into the search
box at www.uk.dk.com)
(NB - this link no longer seems to work and the title no longer seems to appears on their site  - it may be out of print- ed)

A number of Declan's friends who also have DS have envied this book so much (as he did when his friend had it
before him), that we have given  it as a birthday present to a number of them from about 15 yrs - 17  yrs. It is getting difficult to find here in Sydney, so when I came across 6 copies in the New Year sales, I bought them all, to
pass on to others.  And not all of the recipients have disabilities - there are lot of very strange people out there
who are also huge James Bond fans!

A children's book that he still gets a lot of fun out of is "Bamboozled" by David Legge (Ashton Scholastic, 1994, now out of print according to amazon.com, but you might be able to find it in a library).     It is a simple story, with
wonderfully clear, colourful drawings of very silly scenes, with many, many things to laugh at in each one because
they are so obviously ridiculous  - a  garden bed full of bulbs (light bulbs!), chairs with bumper bars, a mat that is
actually a fish pond - it's hard to describe how entertaining it is!  In addition to the sheer fun and giggling, there is so much to talk about - what would happen if you stepped on that mat?  Would you wash the dishes under an elephant's trunk? Look at him mowing the carpet ..... so many funny things.  The reading of the words is the least part of the enjoyment, but still good fun, because the girl and her grandfather, whose house is the setting, cannot work out what is "odd today", and don't think any of the scenes are strange at all.

It is worth checking with specialist book shops (or teaching supplies stockists) for "high interest - low ability" readers.  I've looked at a number of series, although some of them are still too difficult to motivate
Declan to really sit and read them, and some of them are just too difficult. We also like the CD-ROM reading
package "Spin Out Stories" of interactive high-interest - low ability "books" and other reading activities, aimed at junior high school ages.

Declan  particularly likes the stories about trucks and road building.
Declan's school has bought both packages for their senior library, and the older kids really do like them. The
publisher, Greygum is in Australia, but has a distributor in the UK.

Further details:www.greygum.com.au

I have written a review that is available at:

members.iinet.net.au/~dsansw/spin_rev.html

Declan is at best a reluctant reader and writer, and a long way from the most accomplished of other young people with Down syndrome of his age. However, his speech is better than many, and his social skills are outstanding. These, along with good motor skills and good health are his innate gifts, that have been relatively easy to nurture.

When Declan was 8 weeks old, we enrolled in an excellent community-based early intervention program based on the Macquarie University program,  and he progressed to mainstream pre-school (with support) and very early school experience, followed by most of primary school enrolled in a supported class in a mainstream school, and
high school at a special school.

He learned a number of sight words at early intervention, but we did not embark on an intensive early reading
program, although he was exposed to many books and a lot of reading from an early age, and saw us reading
constantly.

There has always been an academic component in his school program (sometimes we have had to insist on its inclusion in his IEP), and a language rich environment at home - but he still finds reading and most other academic work difficult and he says, "boring".  I think boring means a combination of difficult and not always well-matched to his interests.  To keep Declan reading just for the sake of keeping up the skills, or as a performance would simply not work - it has to have a purpose that he can appreciate and that he values or he just won't do it. The last thing we want to do is to make reading a punishment or even a chore.  I think he'd agree with the young man about whom the
question of suitable reading materials was posed.

His current school suits him very well on the whole, but he does complain when he has to do "school work" all day - he wants to do "real work" (a job), which he values much more.  He
is happier with work experience, TAFE college and excursions into the community, all of which now occur as part of the school program.  He will be leaving school one week after his 18th birthday in December 2003, much to his delight.  He insists that we refer to school as his "work", and says he's off to "the office" each morning.  He doesn't hate school by any means - he's just really upfront (and I think quite articulate) about the need for it to have practical meaning for him.  This year, he is the school captain, and having a great experience being an acknowledged leader - "I'm responsible", he tells us proudly and appropriately.

To keep him reading and writing, we have developed (under Declan's guidance, and in response to his level of comfort) a range of activities that make sense to him.  Motivation and personal interest are everything:

He can read a TV program from almost any source.  The layout doesn't seem to present a problem, and he can locate any football game, in any code, on any channel, any day of the week.  He can tell you the time, and the
teams playing, and always has an opinion about who will win and whether we should watch it.  The rest of us rarely need to consult a TV guide - we just ask Declan.

He goes to the newsagent alone, buys the broadsheet newspaper that we like, and can make sure that he gets all the components of the jumbo Saturday edition (most of which we throw away!).
"Declan's" part of the paper is the sport section (where he checks the National Rugby League table, and occasional cricket scores (to make sure we've thrashed the Poms), and the movie guide.  He has no trouble locating, in a major metropolitan paper,  our local cinema complex by the name of the chain and the name of the suburb, and finds both the movie he wants to see and the most appropriate session time, despite the small print, marked short sightedness and often less than clean glasses.
Meanwhile, his father and I have to peer at the increasingly small print under a 100 watt lamp with a magnifying glass .....  He buys himself a rugby league magazine during the winter (he doesn't read much from the articles, but really does concentrate on the photos, team listings and points tables - a bit different from the stereotyped male magazine buyer who is supposed to say that he buys them for the articles!), an occasional soap-opera magazine or TV Week, and has ordered the fortnightly 007 magazine series, which is currently up to issue number 17 (!).   Emma, Declan's sister, buys a monthly teen magazine that is much more targeted at girls than boys, and they share it - the back issues are kept in Declan's room because Emma objects to him going into her room to "borrow" them when she's not home.

Both Declan and Emma, who is 12,  like to have the week's menus provided in advance (they'd both be happy to live in a high class hotel, I'm sure), and often produce one either alone or in collaboration.  Emma is often required to be the writer, but takes instruction well.  You can be sure "let's eat in a restaurant", or even just the name of a local favourite eating place will appear at least once.  They post it on the fridge door, and insist that we stick to it -
it is The Word.

Restaurant menus are more of a challenge, but Declan likes to have his own copy and to make his own choices from what he can read.
He usually prefers to talk with the waiter himself. Of course the dreaded Golden Arches menu appears to have been indelibly imprinted on his brain soon after birth.

From a young age, Declan was provided with a healthy collection of music on cassette, vinyl and later CD, and an enviable video library by indulgent grandparents.
From a very young age  he could produce exactly the one he wanted, even if it wasn't in its cover, and looked exactly like all the others to us.  To confuse the issue further, he had made up titles for them all (different from the real ones), that he expected us to know and understand, even when his speech was barely intelligible.
Now that he speaks clearly he sticks to the real titles, and we have some mild disputes about the suitability of the video ratings from time to time. He likes to have M or MA rated movies, largely because they are recommended for over 15 year olds, and "the child" (Emma) should not be allowed to watch them since  she is not mature yet
(unlike him).  So being able to read the classifications helps him to assert his place in the pecking order.  He catches us unaware sometimes, with the words he recognises.  When the first Harry Potter movie came out on video, we saw it on a store display for the first time, and Declan immediately asked (with some disdain) on reading the cover,  "What supernatural themes are in Harry Potter?", suggesting that he'd either missed the point or didn't
really understand what "supernatural" meant although he could read it.

We have collected a number of card decks, with increasingly age-appropriate illustrations, and sometimes words, and Declan enjoys memory games such as "concentration" and simple card games.  Currently we have cards
based on TV characters, an Old Maid set of adult occupational caricatures, and card sets with photos of animals, vehicles and dinosaurs published by Dorling Kindersley.  Some of them I have found in a shop selling games and
puzzles intended for gifted children, some were in chain stores.  We also have some old favourite board games that I think help maintain reading, memory and thinking skills:  Guess Who?;  Upwords (a version of Scrabble); Trouble; and Junior Monopoly (we use an Australian set).  Declan often elects to be the score keeper,  gaining some painless writing practice.

He uses both public and private telephones competently, as long as he has the number in a written form.  He can work from the Filofax at home,  a short list or a business card, and, like many other youngsters with Down  Syndrome, his speech is even clearer on the phone than at other times.

He travels independently to school and home again, on a public bus.
On the trip home he often gets on the bus at a busy interchange, and he has to recognise the number and destination, and check the timetable, as he gets it at a time that the routes take a minor change at the start of the peak hour. (One day he caught a very early afternoon bus and was very grumpy that it had gone down the "wrong" road, even though he still got off at his regular stop.  I think the driver was probably less than pleased that Declan pointed out to him that he had "stuffed up" the route!)

Two examples motivated entirely by self-interest:  Declan keeps a birthday list throughout the year, starting right after one birthday, ready for the next.  The entries are a mix of his handwriting and various other family members' who he cons to help out from time to time.  He nurses it carefully, and brings it to our attention often, just in case we forget.  Writing the list gives it great legitimacy in his eyes, although he does understand that he will not get everything on it.
The second is probably not reading, but Declan can tell the difference between a five and a ten dollar note at a glance (one is purple, and one is blue), and "I'll take the tenner thanks".

Please don't tell him that any of these activities are "good for him", or have anything to do with schoolwork, and I
hope he never finds out that he could have legally finished school at 15!

In an earlier question on an email list, a parent had worried that her child's speech and language development
might "stall" at some stage (around seven).  That might have been suggested to her - we still hear such outdated and simply ill-informed pronouncements from the most surprising sources.  We also sometimes hear it said (usually by teachers) that children with DS who aren't reading by 12 - or whatever age the child conveniently is - will never
learn to read, so "we don't do literacy".
And then they don't learn -  a self-fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one.

I hope that my note about Declan's obviously continuing development of communication skills, and the range of
literacy and language activities that he encounters and enjoys on a daily basis, helped to encourage her and to
allay her fears.

We haven't done intensive formal speech therapy (he hasn't seen a speech and language therapist since he was not quite five - I don't count the very infrequent and token visits by the school therapy teams of our experience), but he has had a lot of communication opportunities and a great deal of language input, both at home and school, and he's lucky to have none of the more complex difficulties of speech that some people with Down syndrome have to deal
with.  His hearing is good, and we have been aware of its importance from a young age, because of our knowledge of Sue Buckley's work on language development, (and research on the utility of reading to promote language development).

When Declan first went off to school at just over five, barely using two word phrases consistently, we hardly dared
hope that he would ever be able to speak as well as he can now, let alone read for pleasure (well a bit, anyway!).
In a family that tends to be "bookish", it's nice to see that sometimes it's Declan with his "head stuck in a book"
ignoring the world, even if it is James Bond.

Of course I don't know exactly what impact being an active, if sometimes reluctant, reader has had on Declan's
continuing language development, but I'm sure that it has helped, and I am pleased for all of us that his vocabulary, syntax, grammar and abstract thought processes are still developing at a noticeable rate, at the grand old age of
17 1/2.

The combination of communication and reading skills matters to him because he knows he's developing
competence and more adult skills, and it makes his way in the world easier.
Literacy and language might be the difference between a job he really wants and one that's all that's offering.
If he doesn't need to read and /or write for the job he wants to do, keeping up his reading skills will certainly make
other aspects of his life easier - even the ability to make a phone call independently with a printed number can give him a measure of adult  privacy and control that many people with intellectual disabilities never enjoy.

So how will we keep him reading?

by not reading for him when he can
do it,

by providing as many opportunities
as we can,

by continuing to read with him,

and by paying attention to his
motivation and interests

Why else would he bother?

Jill O’Connor
Information Officer,
Down Syndrome Association of
New South Wales, Australia
Email: dsansw@iinet.net.au
www.iinet.net.au/~dsansw
 
 

THE DOWN SYNDROME EDUCATIONAL TRUST

Anyone interested in becoming a member of the Down Syndrome Educational Trust may do so via their web-site. The link may be found as "DownsEd" on our home page.

The Trust has also issued an urgent appeal for funds to help them continue with their work
Can you help?
Please do visit their site as their work is vital.

PARNET is the UK-wide parent network of Cereba, a registered charity concerned with helping children with a range of brain related conditions. Parents of children with Down syndrome are represented in PARNET.

Cerebra recently commissioned external experts to write a guide to applying for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children with the range of brain related conditions represented in PARNET. Many families were experiencing difficulty in filling in the forms and were then dissatisfied with the outcome. Some families were put off from applying at all.

The guide is free, in plain English and is designed to give you confidence. It looks at every question on the forms in
depth, helping you to bring to mind what you will need to consider and to put down details in the best way. It also helps with the rest of the process.

To obtain a copy of the guide, ‘Claiming Disability Living Allowance for children under sixteen with brain related
conditions’,  you should contact
PARNET,
Cerebra,
13 Guildhall Square,
Carmarthen, SA31 1PR,
Wales.
Tel: 01267 244203
Fax: 01267 244213
Email: gill456@gn.apc.org
Web site:www.cerebra.org.uk

I did canoeing and abseiling at camp. I did archery and threw stones at the water.

I had hamburger and hot chocolate. I sang songs by the camp fire. I slept in the tent with Al and Dom. I bought
Maltesers and a can of coke at the tuck shop.

I did chase rabbits but I didn’t  catch one. I like going to camp, it is good fun.

Joe Baxter age 10

(Editor’s note: Joe chose the font and did his own typing!)

PENPAL WANTED!

Meet Lesley Harris who wrote to us asking for a penpal

.********Here is Lesley’s letter.
(Apologies for the quality of reproduction), Lesley writes:-

“I would like to be a penpal to anyone who writing to me and talk about things we like.
I am 32 years of age.”

If you would like to write to her, please send your letter to us at  Down Syndrome Liverpool  P.O. Box 1, Mossley Hill DO, Liverpool L18 4SD ) and we will forward it on to her.

Did you know that if you have a Disabled Person’s Badge and live in Merseyside, you can apply for  books of concessionary tickets which enable free access to the  Mersey Tunnels.
For further information, or to obtain an application form, contact:
Mersey Tunnels on 0151 236 8602 (Ext 212).

OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDCARE

Arranging childcare doesn’t stop when your children go to school, in fact, finding childcare for the time before and after school can be a real headache.

Out of School clubs are designed to meet this need and provide school-age children with an opportunity to learn and have fun in groups. They are usually set up in or near to local schools and at least half the staff must have a childcare qualification. All clubs that care for children under the age of 8 for more than 2 hours a day are registered and inspected by OFSTED who check all of the playworkers as well as the premises.

Liverpool Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership (LEYDCP) is responsible for delivering the City’s
Early Years Development and Childcare Plan and has targets to develop and maintain childcare provision locally. The number of Out of School clubs in Liverpool has increased due to grants from New Opportunities Funding (NOF) and the LEYDCP teams. Area Development Workers have worked with existing and potential clubs to ensure that families in Liverpool have access to high quality and affordable provision.

All Early Years development and Childcare Partnerships are also supported by Children’s Information Services who provide information to parents/providers and employers on childcare provision in the local area.
For a list of Out of School Clubs or other childcare information and advice in your local area, contact:
Liverpool Children’s Information
Service on 0151 233 3000 or log on
to
www.childcarelink.gov.uk/liverpool

3tc

Do you need help to learn or  improve computer skills? Are you looking for an inexpensive computer to start you
off?

3tc is part of a government project called UK Online and is an  organisation which helps people to use computers. They also sell reconditioned computers for around £150/ £175 and will give free help for a year if the computer breaks down.

Courses are designed to help people use computers in lots of different ways. A variety of activities are on
offer for people who have different abilities and skills, including people with learning difficulties.

Some of the courses taught by 3tc are:
Introduction to Computer Skills, Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Databases, Email, Internet, and Desk Top Publishing.

Information Technology can be used by adults with learning disabilities for all sorts of things such as art & design,
digital photography, communicating by e-mail; developing hobbies and interests and much more.

If you would like to find out more about joining a course or UK Online, please contact:
Lin Etheridge, UK Online Manager ,
3TC, 16 Crosby Road North,
Waterloo, Liverpool, L22 0NY
Tel: 0151 285 4012
Fax: 0151 285 4060
Email: letheridge@3tc.org.co.uk

MOSAIC DOWN SYNDROME

The following Email was sent to the Down Syndrome UK list and is reproduced in full.

“Hello, my name is Bill Green and my wife, Judy, and I live in Blackpool, Lancs. We have a 10 year old
daughter (Katie) who was born with Mosaic Down Syndrome. Katie is in mainstream school and doing OK with
support.

My reason for writing is to make you aware of a new (March 2003) website and support group for parents of
children with Mosaic Down Syndrome.
Besides the e-mail support group and the web site, MDS parents have online chats every Sunday night using AOL’s free Instant Messenger.

With MDS being so rare, we need to be able to reach out to UK parents who may struggle to meet other parents in a similar position to themselves and I would be grateful if you could provide a link to our website from your website. I will ensure that your website is linked from our website.

Many thanks for your help. We are just getting this group off the ground and need all the help we can get!”
The website can be found at:
www.mosaicdownsyndrome.org
Bill’s Email address is:
bill.green@blueyonder.co.uk

MOSSLEY HILL ATHLETIC CLUB

As you may have read in the April newsletter, our football coaching sessions continue at  The Greenbank Project Gymnasium on Saturday mornings from 10.a.m. to 11.00 a.m.
We have a regular group who come along but there is room for more.
Above all, the sessions are about fun and if the children get a bit of exercise into the bargain, that is great.

The sessions are subsidised by Mossley Hill Athletic Club, each child pays a contribution of £1.50 towards
the cost of hiring the gym.

We are grateful to Alan Atkinson  who organised things for us and coaches the children. We are also grateful to
Mossley Hill Athletic Club for their contribution.

Our photograph shows children from MHAC receiving a donation from Fords on behalf of the club. Children
from our Saturday morning group were invited along to the photo shoot but, unfortunately, only 4 were able to
attend. They are Joshua Cogan, Chris
Hill, Mike Ellison and Peter Bennett.

If your child is interested in coming  along to Greenbank Gym on a Saturday morning, give Alan a call on
0151 724 6181.

EDUCATION SUPPORT PACK FOR MAINSTREAM SCHOOLS

We hear from the Down’s Syndrome Association that their new Education Support Pack has been well received
and is flying off the shelves. The pack is available from
The Down’s Syndrome Association,
155 Mitcham Road, London, SW17 9PG.
Tel: 020 8682 4001 - cost £15 to cover production, postage and packing.

It can also be downloaded free from www.downs-syndrome.org.uk but, be warned, it is in excess of 100
pages!

AWARENESS WEEK

As head of Year 7 at St.Chad's, I organised the week in the school. Assemblies were held for all the different Year groups and the theme for the school's weekly classroom worship was, "Celebrating Our Uniqueness". School Internet monitoring revealed many pupils had accessed various Down syndrome websites throughout the week, so the main aim of raising awareness was achieved.
On Friday 12th June, Molly, my 18 month old daughter, spent the afternoon in St.Chad's. The photograph shows Molly with some  ear 7 pupils from the year group's
fund raising committee.

Anne Wilde - DSL Parent Member
 

Have a look at www.readplease.com and you will find a useful free download. If you install ‘Readplease’
into your computer, it will read back documents to you. It saves a lot of wear and tear on the eyes from trying
to read the computer screen. Initially you have a choice of 4 voices with Canadian accents but, if you tinker
around, you can install a couple of voices with English accents (or a close approximation), one male one female.
In fact, other languages are on offer if you want to be really clever!! (but that's only the 30-day trial version not the fully-free one).

My son recently had to work on a topic for school and was amused to hear the computer read his work back to
him. It also helped highlight any mistakes.

If nothing else, it is fun so why not have a look?

Pat Baxter
Treasurer DSL

TOYS

New families often ask what sort of toys they should buy for their child with Down syndrome. Before rushing
out to buy a lot of expensive toys, why not pay a visit to the
PSS Family Resource Centre and Toy Library,
Orthes Street,
Liverpool L3 5XF,
where they run a toy lending service.

To find out more call Linda Hogan
on:- 0151 709 5946.

In the April issue of the newsletter, we acknowledged a donation of £500 from the Transmission Hourly Group,
Ford Motor Company. The photo below arrived too late for inclusion in April. It shows Pat Baxter (DSL
Treasurer)  and Mal Hill (DSL Secretary) receiving the cheque.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ISSUE OF OUR NEWSLETTER.

IF YOU ARE A PERSON WITH DOWN SYNDROME, A PARENT, RELATIVE, FRIEND OR HAVE A PROFESSIONAL INTEREST IN DOWN SYNDROME AND HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, PLEASE
SEND IT TO THE EDITOR. IF YOU HAVE A PHOTOGRAPH TO GO WITH IT, ALL THE BETTER. ALL OPINIONS ARE WELCOME.
YOU CAN EITHER WRITE YOUR PIECE AND POST IT TO OUR P.O. BOX ADDRESS OR SEND IT BY E-MAIL, ALL DETAILS ON THE MAIN WEB PAGE. IF YOU SEND A PHOTOGRAPH, PLEASE MAKE
SURE TO INCLUDE A RETURN ADDRESS.

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