What exactly are the limits of Down's Syndrome?

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...because when I look at characters with Down's Syndrome on TV like Tom on "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" they talk and behave almost like normal people (maybe a bit slower with less diction). Is this just bad writing? I do recall meeting one or two people with DS and to me they were able to make conversation and form sentences just like normal people. (Then again me having AS, I wouldn't know what is considered normal social conversation.)

If not for the obvious physical signs of the condition, you'd probably not be able to tell if they have mental retardation. I get that they're supposed to have that. But in some cases, you wouldn't know it unless you saw them having difficulty with a task or an assignment or whatever. Since I have yet to see this, I have no idea how it works. Is this a lack of cognition? A difficulty to develop certain skills? Can they learn anything? And if so how much are they able to learn? Is it a memory problem or an inability to absorb knowledge or what?

People with Downs are supposed to be mentally ret*d. They can't take care of themselves and need caregiver. They also can't pass normal classes in school and need special ed. They can't hold the average job and need a job for disabled people (such as sorting bags or something mechanical like that). They have thick lips and other physical features that distinguish downs. A lot of them have poor coordination and might pronounce things badly. In other words, it should be obvious.

But interesting post though. Maybe there is "high functioning Downs" and thats the kind of thing you seen? I never heard of such thing. But who knows? You should probably look further into it.

Last edited by Roman on 28 Jul 2011, 9:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm curious too. I have met someone who I am sure has down's syndrome and she seemed somewhat normal, except that I could not make out what she was saying half the time. She seemed very nice and unusually expressive. I'm assuming social awareness problems are not a major issue with Down's.

Really? A few days ago, there was a man with down syndrome being trained to be a cashier at my local supermarket. That seems pretty average to me. When I mentioned it to my mother, she told me they also have a lady with down syndrome there who also works as a cashier. They are doing the exact same work as all the other cashiers who do not have down syndrome....

There is no reason for you to feel defensive, because I am not pushing any opinion on Downs. I was merely stating the little that I know, and I freely admit I don't know much. And, like I stated, I am actually quite curious to see if there is such a thing as "high functioning Downs". Maybe there is! Thats why I was asking to find out one way or the other.

I guess if there truly is "high functioning Downs" it would be a bit suprising since Downs is attributed to a single chromosome so one would expect it to be the same among the people who have it. But then again, sometimes the nature has surprises. So, as a scientist, I would be quite interested in finding out about them and whehter or not any explanations are available regarding such cases.

People with Down's syndrome range from being severely ret*d to having normal intelligence, graduating high school, and being able to work and live on their own. I'm not aware of anyone with Down's syndrome having above average intelligence, but it's not entirely impossible.

Also, Down Syndrome causes a distinctive learning style, with strengths in social skills and a weakness in verbal skills. That's why DS people often seem smarter than their speech suggests - because they are. Most DS people don't progress past a 3 year old level in grammatical skills, but are well ahead of that in self-care and cognition.

On average, DS people tend to be mildly mentally ret*d. This is an IQ between 50 and 70. At that IQ level, in adulthood, they generally have academic skills at a 3rd grade level or so. They can sometimes live independently, but often need supervision because they won't be able to handle crises well. They may need some help managing money, such as not being allowed to take out too much money from savings all at once. They can usually work at regular jobs as long as those jobs aren't particularly intellectual - DS people often do very well in public service jobs because of their good social skills.

Lower functioning DS are usually moderately mentally ret*d (35-50). At that range they'll have little or no academic skills, they'll need some kind of assistive living setting, and they usually work in sheltered workshops rather than a regular job. But they'll be able to cummunicate fairly well and be independent in basic self-care such as dressing and toileting.

Often higher functioning DS individuals have mosaic DS - in other words some, but not all, of their cells have the extra chromosome. Mosaic DS can range from a completely normal person (in fact parents who have two or more non-translocation DS kids are probably mosaic) to just as severe as non-mosaic DS, and anywhere in between.

There is no reason for you to feel that I am feeling defensive. That was a misinterpretation; sorry if my words contributed to the misinterpretation. I was simply adding another non-defensive perspective to the conversation.



I'd be interested in knowing this as well, actually. I don't know if you can really go by "look", but the man I saw was without a doubt a person with down syndrome (so I did not see him as mild....but maybe a person cannot go by look alone..)



I'm sidetracked but what type of scientist? (Just curious...)

I am a theoretical physicist.