by Today marks the beginning of Down syndrome awareness month. Today also marks the beginning of seeing me post bits of information about Down syndrome on a daily basis.
Before AJ was born, I was honestly clueless about what people with Down syndrome were like. I had honestly never met a single person who had it, and I can definitely admit to believing some of the stereotypes. Some pieces of information were new to me, and some days I’m still learning what it means to have Down syndrome and how to best support AJ. I do, however, feel like we are in a great position to be able to spread some awareness about the lessons we have learned.
People with Down syndrome are, well, for lack of a better way to put it — they’re people. And people experience a vast array of emotions. Down syndrome does not take away someone’s ability to feel different emotions.
Did you know that there are studies that indicate that people with Down syndrome are at a higher risk for depression? People with Down syndrome have the same needs and desires as people without it, and sometimes the additional challenges that they face can make day-to-day life more emotionally challenging.
AJ expresses his emotions very clearly. He’s rarely “kind of” in any mood. If he’s feeling a certain way – he feels it with his whole being. Part of this is likely due to the fact that he’s not able to communicate clearly in words, so he’s very expressive with his emotions in other ways.
When AJ is happy — his whole face lights up. I do believe he’s able to see the joy in the world easier than the rest of us are. I also believe that happiness is one of, if not the, “loudest” and more clear emotions that AJ expresses.
Because he’s a little bit of a ham, we take pictures. LOTS of pictures. I have an entire phone full of happy, smiling, laughing pictures of AJ, and I frequently share them. But that doesn’t mean he’s always happy. It simply means I like to capture it when he is. Parents love to share happy images of their kids. Down syndrome doesn’t change that. I want to have cheesy, smiling pictures of both of my kids. I want to share their happiness with the world.
But happiness is not the only emotion that he expresses clearly.
When he’s mad he stomps his feet, slaps his hands on his legs or the floor and “huffs” with his face scrunched up.
When he’s bored with an activity he will start to ignore your requests and intentionally do things incorrectly. He will stop engaging and will try ignoring you. He will sign “all done”. Sometimes he’ll even get frustrated enough that he hits or bites – something we have been working on stopping to find a better way to communicate, which is a struggle for many kids his age.
When he’s sad or in trouble he has *the* most adorable pouting face with a quivering lip that makes me want to pick him up and squeeze him, even if I know that would defeat the purpose of scolding him in the first place. I often have to remind myself that he will likely never stop biting if he gets a hug every time he does it.
When he’s feeling lovey, lonely or scared he becomes clingy. AJ suffers from separation anxiety and gets upset when Aaron and I step away at times, just like many other preschoolers do.
He also has a bit of his mom’s perfectionist attitude. AJ gets incredibly frustrated when he’s trying to accomplish a task and falls short. Take walking for example. If he’s set off to walk a certain distance and ends up falling down before he gets there, he will pout, cry, and sometimes lay down on the floor in a dramatic flop and refuse to try again for a period of time.
And when he’s really upset, well… he really makes his displeasure known. Even without a voice you can hear him crying across the house. And just like the rest of us, some days he’s more prone to emotional outbursts than others.
AJ has feelings, moods, and emotions just like the rest of us do. Having Down syndrome doesn’t change that one bit. This is just one example of how we are all more alike than we are different.
