New Stoke for a Special Needs Teen with Down's .../...

[TallDude]

Our friends teen age son has Down's Syndrome. Every summer we look forward to vacationing with him and his family. He's pretty high functioning with some speech. Sayings such as "get away from me butt head", "I know, I KNOW! " and " I'm not!" make up most of the conversation. He sometimes has a temper and wants to be left alone. He's a very good swimmer. People with Down's tend to be very flexible because of their joint development. Aside from swimming, he hasn't really taken to any sport. He has trouble riding a bike, hitting a ball, or any type of hand-eye coordination type of sport because of vision issues.

This past week he found his sport. He's a Standup Paddle boarder! Who knew. My niece, who he listen's to more than anyone, taught him to paddle. There was boat chop and wind. A lot of the beginners were having trouble balancing. Our little buddy stood right up, and started paddling with the best form I'd ever seen any beginner. We got the " shut up butt head" when we tried to tell him his paddle was backwards, but that's typical of most beginners and /or teenagers. He paddled up and down the beach for probably half an hour, passing everyone. He figured out the reverse paddle turn and stop on his own. His parents are talking about getting him a paddleboard. They have a boat dock at the back of their house, so it's a perfect setting for him to cruise

[stoneaxe]

Very cool

[pdxmike]

I used to swim with a young woman who has Downs.  She's less than 5' tall, with some physical problems, but still swam across the English Channel on a relay and across Tahoe (9 miles) plus several other distance swims (Boston Harbor, Alcatraz) on her own.  She recently got an honorary doctorate and gave a TED talk. I think the success in swimming is what really got her going--similar to many people I know who didn't know what other abilities they had until they found success in a sport.
http://www.karengaffneyfoundation.com/

[raf]

That's awesome, Talldude.  My youngest son, who is 8, also has Down syndrome.  He's a pretty good paddler too.  He paddles mostly while sitting on the board, but he gets where he wants, and can turn around and get back if he has to.  He also loves to swim and usually will head for the horizon and the "so deep"…absolutely no fear.  After a few minutes he's about 75 yards offshore and my wife and I look at each other and figure out who has to go get him to turn around to head back in. 

I think a lot of the hand-eye stuff is actually because we don't realize how anticipatory a lot of our actions are.  We are not always reacting, but often anticipating a future motion.  When you catch a ball, you know where that ball is going to be.  Although people with Down syndrome tend to have a slower reaction time, I think they also need more practice to develop a proper anticipatory response.  Basically, people with Down syndrome need more practice at anything to master it. 

As for the sassiness, my boy can be that way too.  Thats partly from frustration of constantly having people telling you what to do (i.e., most kids in school have 1 teacher, my boy has about 5…each telling him what to do).