The Use of Technology for Children with Down Syndrome in Saudi Arabia - Research Proposal Example

The paper “The Use of Technology for Children with Down Syndrome in Saudi Arabia” is an exciting example of a research proposal on sociology. Down syndrome is defined as a genetic disorder that is caused by chromosomal abnormalities. Specifically, the condition is manifested when a person has an extra chromosome (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2013). In some cases, it has been argued that the condition occurs due to a rearrangement of the chromosomal material contained in chromosome 21 and other chromosomes (Al-Shawaf & Al-Faleh, 2011; Stylianos et al., 2004). When this happens, a person has the normal chromosome 21 copies and other materials from the same chromosome (chromosome 21) attached to a different chromosome.

Typically, normal babies are born with 46 chromosomes, but those with Down syndrome have an extra copy of one of these chromosomes (chromosome 21) as stated above. Down syndrome is also referred to as Trisomy 21, and the extra copy of chromosomes alters the development of the baby’s body and brain. This can result in both physical and mental challenges for the baby (CDC, 2013). Although nearly 95 percent of people with Down syndrome have Trisomy 21, there are two other types of the condition: translocation Down syndrome and mosaic Down syndrome.

Translocation Down syndrome accounts for about three percent of people with Down syndrome. This condition occurs when an extra fraction or a full extra chromosome 21 is present but it is translocated or attached to a different chromosome instead of being a separate chromosome 21. On the other hand, mosaic Down syndrome means a combination of various chromosomal abnormalities and affects about 2 percent of people with Down syndrome. Some of the cells in children with mosaic Down syndrome have three copies of chromosome 21 while other cells have the usual two copies of chromosome 21.

Children with mosaic Down syndrome may have the same characteristics as other children with Down syndrome, but they may have reduced features of the condition because of the presence of a few or many cells with the normal number of chromosomes (CDC, 2013). Children with Down syndrome have a number of physical and cognitive characteristics. The most common physical characteristics (although not every individual with Down syndrome will have all of them) are outlined next. Children with Down syndrome may have a below-average length and weight at birth, broad hands with diminutive fingers, a small mouth, a small nose with a flat nasal bridge and flattened facial features, and eyes that slant upwards and outward (almond-shaped eyes) (Klein, Cook & Richardson-Gibbs, 2001, p.

25; Fegan, 2011, p. 160; CDC, 2013; National Health Service (NHS), 2013). They may also have a reduced muscle tone which causes floppiness or hypotonia, a big space between the first and second toe, and their palm may have only a single crease (palmar crease) across it (Maanum, 2009, p. 58; Fegan, 2011, p. 160; CDC, 2013; NHS, 2013). Children with Down syndrome may also have short stature with short arms and legs in relation to the torso during their development, unusually shaped ears, and have underdeveloped respiratory and cardiovascular systems (Fegan, 2011, p.

160; CDC, 2013; NHS, 2013). Other physical characteristics of children Down syndrome include a short neck, a tongue that tends to protrude out of the mouth, and minute white spots on the iris (colored part) of the eye (Fegan, 2011, p. 160; CDC, 2013; NHS, 2013). As a result of these physical challenges, children with Down syndrome have several learning and interaction problems including poor balance, perceptual difficulties, and hearing loss and poor vision (Fegan, 2011, p. 160). Children with Down syndrome are also likely to have other health problems such as chronic mouth breathing (which causes the tendency of the tongue to stick out of the mouth), frequent upper respiratory infections, and heart malformations (Klein et al. 2001, p. 25).

There is also a rare but dangerous occurrence that is more common in children with Down syndrome called a spinal subluxation (Klein et al. 2001, p. 25). This is a partial dislodgment of the upper spinal vertebrae. According to Klein et al. (2001), spinal subluxation occurs in about 15 percent of the children who are born with Down syndrome. Further, in about 1 percent of the affected children, the dislodgement results in a severe condition called spinal cord compression. Even though the occurrence is rare, there is a need for teachers to be aware of the symptoms of this spinal cord compression, which include the head tilting to one side, increased clumsiness, weakness of one arm, and limping or refusal to walk (p. 25).

Many of the cognitive characteristics that children with Down syndrome have are also related to the physical problems that have been discussed. For instance, because most babies with Down syndrome have short legs and arms and a low muscle tone, they have problems in learning how to move (NHS, 2013). Children with Down syndrome also face challenges in reaching for something, sitting, walking, standing, reading, talking and communicating (NHS, 2013). Although most children with Down syndrome have an ‘average’ level of cognitive ability, it is important to note that levels of cognitive ability range across different people with Down syndrome from severe to mild cognitive disability.

This can be attributed to the fact that children with Down syndrome have a somewhat delayed level of gross motor development due to their low muscle tone, which delays other developmental milestones such as walking (Klein et al. 2001, p. 25). In most cases, the usual clinical picture of children with Down syndrome is one of poor language skills as well as poor cognitive skills, although some children have astoundingly good language skills in spite of having quite disabling cognitive challenges (Goswami, 2002, pp.

442–443). For instance, children with Down syndrome are usually characterised by generally poor communication abilities, a reasonably unintelligible speech and phonological problems (Feng et al. 2008). Their syntactic and phonological abilities often appear more impaired than their cognitive challenges would seem to manifest. However, other children with Down syndrome can have spared language abilities, and children with significant cognitive disabilities due to factors such as prenatal brain damage may develop into adults who speak 16 different languages – though this is a rare phenomenon (Goswami, 2002, p. 443). Children with Down syndrome typically exhibit atypical cognitive development in that apart from overall delay in their grammatical development, they also tend to produce shorter and simpler sentences than typically developing children who have the same vocabulary size.

In fact, as Tomasello (2006) notes, most children with Down syndrome never grasp truly complex syntactic constructions that involve elements such as embedding and related language areas (p. 291). Although research on the causes of such challenges has not yet produced conclusive results, it is apparent that the main problem that children with Down syndrome face is a cognitive one as argued by Tomasello (2006, p. 291). This is because such children have a number of cognitive weaknesses as outlined above – many of which (but not all) show up on standard Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests – that might credibly be linked to their delayed language development as discussed by Tomasello (2006, p. 291). Studies on the cognitive development of children with Down syndrome have shown that there is an overall slowing, or possibly decline, in their rate of development as they grow older.

A good indicator of this is that children with Down syndrome show a decline in IQ as they grow older (Hazlett, Hammer, Hooper & Kamphaus, 2011, p. 368). In learning, children with Down syndrome face more challenges compared to their non-Down syndrome counterparts as mentioned above. Some of the areas where children with Down syndrome experience difficulties while learning include motor development, obtaining grammar skills, speech clarity and the ability to use expressive language (Down Syndrome Education International (DSEI), 2013).

Specifically, this is because the motor skills in children with Down syndrome develop much slower compared to non-Down syndrome children. Consequently, children with Down syndrome do not explore and learn about their environment at the same pace as the non-Down syndrome children do. Notably, the delayed motor development affects their cognitive development (DSEI, 2013). This means that although children with Down syndrome are able to achieve many of the same developmental milestones that other children without the condition do, they usually attain these milestones at a slower pace.