Babies With Down Syndrome: A New Parent's Guide (The Special-Needs Collection)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, must have for new families!
Review: I am a mom of a 2 1/2 yr old daughter with DS and this book greatly helped get me through the first few months when I had so many questions. I still refer to it from time to time, and I would greatly recommend it to those seeking more information.

Rating:
Summary: Misleading
Review: I am an early interventionist, working with several infants and children who have Down syndrome. I found this book to be somewhat incomplete and misleading. For example, it contains a developmental milestone chart for typically developing children. This chart caused no end of worry to the parents I work with. More accurate, Down syndrome specific information is available elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource and easy to read-
Review: I am so glad that our hospital gave us this book to take home after our son was born with down syndrome. It is a very thorough but easy and quick to read book. We learned about medical problems that can arise so were prepared early on to deal with the many doctors and therapists that we were referred to. We learned how to deal with questions from family and friends. We also learned that the fear and grief that we experienced the first couple of weeks is normal. It helped so much to be able to educate ourselves quickly and read about the experiences of other parents early on. This book is excellent and I think all hospitals should offer it to parents of newborn babies with down syndrome.

Rating:
Summary: Not to be given the day that you give birth
Review: I bought this book a couple of months before my son was born. I began to read it everyday and gained a great amount of wonderful knowledge. This book has helped me with knowing what to expect from my son and what his "special needs" are. I highly recommend this book to any new parent or parent to be of a child with Down Syndrome.

Rating:
Summary: Babies With Down Syndrome: A New Parents Guide(The Special N
Review: I bought this book a couple of months before my son was born. I began to read it everyday and gained a great amount of wonderful knowledge. This book has helped me with knowing what to expect from my son and what his "special needs" are. I highly recommend this book to any new parent or parent to be of a child with Down Syndrome.

Rating:
Summary: A definite must have for parents!
Review: I received a copy of this book from my son's occupational therapist. I was ready to know more about my son's condition and to know why he would do somethings instead of others. I wanted to know how the milestones varied from "healthy" children. I felt this book covered everything that I wanted to know and even discussed what to do when writing a will and how it changes with a Down Syndrome child. Things I never would have thought would be different until reading this book. It took about 4 months before I was willing to read something about this because I wanted to start raising him just like I raised my other children. This was definitly a book that did not go the extreme in the condition which is something I wanted. I would definitely suggest this book to anyone who has a child with Down Syndrome!

Rating:
Summary: Terri, mother of Mary Catherine
Review: I was given this book by the Richmond Down Syndrome Society when our daughter was born with Down Syndrome. It was quite a shock as we did not know she would be born with DS. I knew right away when she was placed in my arms (I'm a special education teacher)and within 20 hours of birth she was whisked away to the Medical College of Virginia. This book was so very helpful to both myself, my husband and my family. We all learned so much from it and we passed it along to my brother (her guardian in the event something were to happen with us) and his wife. They also found it helpful as they knew what to expect. Overall, I cannot stress enough that these children are so wonderful in their own way and this book helps to give you an inside view of what to expect with your new baby.


Rating:
Summary: Not to be given the day that you give birth
Review: I was handed this book the day that my daughter was born, when the doctor's suspected she had Down Syndrome. This book is informative to all the future obstacles that "may" be faced, but not something to hand to a new mother. I found this book to be very depressing and had to put it out of sight for several months. Even when a typical child is born, we don't know what types of medical issues that are going to be faced with, or the difficulties each family will have due to that child. I feel that this book focuses too much on the negative impact of Down Syndrome and not enough of how much enjoyment and happiness will be brought when each milestone is met. We are not even told that our children will meet all milestones just "possibly" at a slower pace. Babies with Down Syndrome can't be sterotyped, they will all fare differently since their genetics are all different, some smarter than others etc.

Rating:
Summary: The first book you should get
Review: In the delivery room when my son Mikey was born, we were told he had Down syndrome. We knew very little about the condition and were confused and frightened about the future. Our son's geneticist gave us a copy of this book and it answered almost all of our questions, including some we never thought to ask. The information in this book relieved many of our fears and showed us how to be the best parents for our son. The book starts with a forward by Ann M. Forts, a member of the Board of Directors of the National Down Syndrome Congress; the New Hampshire Developmental Disabilities Council; and the President's Committee on Mental Retardation. Ms. Forts also happens to be a person with Down syndrome. Right away, we knew this book was going to be positive! The book starts with a chapter on what is Down syndrome followed by a chapter on adjusting to your new child. Chapter 3 discusses some of the medical issues that are associated with Down syndrome. This is good information to be aware of even if you never need it. The next few chapters discuss taking care of your baby, family life, how your baby will develop, early intervention, and educating the child with Down syndrome. The last chapter covers your legal rights. Every chapter has several pages of short quotes from parents. It helped to lessen the fear and stress to read that other parents are coping. This is by far the best book for the new parent of a child with Down syndrome. Before you read anything else, you will want to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Very Thorough, buy this one first!
Review: My son is 10 months old and I just got this book. I wish I had it earlier, it would have saved a lot of time spent searching for information. Takes you step-by-step to understanding what is Down Syndrome and how to embrace and prepare your child for his future.