is it possible for a down syndrome child to have Aspergers

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I am asking this question just out of curiosity because you know when some women are having a child in their 40's or even 50's there is a higher chance that the child could be born with down syndrome
but I was just thinking for many people who have AS they sometimes pass it down to their offspring so I just wanted to know is it possible for a down syndrome child to have Asperger Syndrome as well?

Yes, it is possible for a Downs Syndrome child to have autism as well. The extra chromosome doesn't protect against the symptoms of autism.

I don't know if it is technically possible to be diagnosed with both conditions, but it is certainly possible to be autistic and have Down's.

i went to mainstream school right up until i was 11 then i didnt really go to school i just went to something like a special school because they thought i be really badly bullied at mainstream high school. at the special school (social group thing more like, with a bit of education ) it was loads of teenagers with all diferent disabilitys and lot had downs syndrome. but i wasnt sure if they had aspergers or autism aswell but were much better for me making friends with than normal kids because they never bullied me and had social awkwardness too.

Yes.

http://www.riverbendds.org/index.htm?page=howlin.html
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8749.1999.tb00574.x/abstract
http://tinyurl.com/b52ah59
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2001.tb00156.x/abstract
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10803-007-0374-4?LI=true

Technically, a DS kid probably wouldn't meet the 'normal language and IQ' criteria of AS, though, so they'd get autism or PDD NOS instead.

I heard that many kids with Down Syndrome also show some, or at times many, autistic traits, so I think it's possible to have both AS and Down Syndrome.

Yes, it's possible. My mother's friend has a child who has Down's and Aspergers (diagnosed).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jkBOU9etRA[/youtube]

Autism + DS isn't just possible, it's actually more common than among NTs. Most doctors would hesitate to diagnose Asperger's in someone with DS because most of the time there is some developmental delay, usually mild/moderate. If you used DS-only as a developmental baseline to judge delays in children with ASD+DS, Asperger's is probably the closest possible diagnosis for at least some of these cases, where speech and self-care are not delayed beyond what would be expected from the average DS child (if there is such a thing!).

But most doctors will just throw such cases into the PDD-NOS catch-all, since there's no way of knowing what symptoms are associated with which disorder. I'd probably do the same if I were doing the diagnosing, unless "autism" was going to get the kid better services. "On the spectrum" is enough for these unique kids to get the education they need; it's got to be taken on a case-by-case basis anyway.

There is a WP user with mosaic Down's Syndrome: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt204610.html

It seems as if it should be possible.

Providing that the individual with Mosaic Down's syndrome has at least near normal cognitive and intellectual development, it's entirely possible to fulfill the criterion for a diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome, and the same diagnostic rule would be applicable to those with the genetic disorder known as Fragile X syndrome (mutation of the FMR1 gene within the X chromosome); however, it's quite likely that physicians may hesitate to formally diagnose a high functioning form of autism amongst individuals with DS (including the Mosaic type), presumably due to the statistical correlation of the prevalence of significant intellectual disabilities, and incidence of moderate developmental delays being extremely high within the DS population.

If the assessment was conducted by a multidisciplinary team (psychological, psychiatric, pediatric, or a combination of 2 or all three of the medical professions), there may dissentious conflict amongst the collaborative physicians to determine whether the diagnosis should be attained by the person with Down's syndrome. For example, some clinicians are so adherent to the DSM IV guidelines (adaptive behavior, speech acquisition, linguistic, and intellectual development) that may get the generalized supposition that the coexistence of DS+AS is oxymoronic, as it's construed as an extreme rarity. The upcoming merger of Asperger's syndrome, Classical autism, and high-functioning autism, into one ASD severity category, and the revoking of the language delay criterion in the DSM V may alleviate diagnostic bias, and help psychologists as-well as psychiatrists to disambiguate any uncertainties throughout an ASD assessment for well adapted, and cognitively able individuals with Down's syndrome. The prevalence of ASD's in DS is estimated at approximately 7%, making it fairly more common than in the general population not living with DS.
_________________
Diagnosed with "Classical" Asperger's syndrome in 1998 (Clinical psychologist).
Alexithymia Questionnaire Score: 158/185
Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised (RAADS-R): 231/240
Aspie score: 186 out of 200
Neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 12 out of 200
AQ: 48/50 EQ: 9/80