The dynamics of sibling relationships with a down syndrome child

Siblings of special needs child are often seen as neglected children, especially when the special needs child needs more attention from their parents. This study aimed to find out the dynamics of sibling relationships with a down syndrome child. A phenomenological qualitative approach with data analysis of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was chosen as the research method due to its suitability with the purpose of this study. The data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews on two biological older sisters (24 and 20 years old) of a boy with down syndrome (12 years old). The selection of subjects used a purposive sampling technique, which was based on the specified criteria. Three main themes were found in this study, namely (1) the functions of parents’ role, (2) acceptance towards a sibling with Down syndrome, and (3) sibling relationship. The results showed that the parents’ role in introducing the Down syndrome from the beginning helped the subjects accepted their sibling’s special needs. The subjects’ acceptance was expressed through their actions in supporting their younger sibling to become independent. Each subject also showed a sense of care in their own ways. Sibling relationships with a Down syndrome child were indicated by the existence of warmth, conflict, rivalry, role, engagement, stress, concern, and coping mechanisms.

Abnormal Biomechanical Conditions of the Foot in Child with Down Syndrome During Standing: A Finite Element Study

Background: Down syndrome children have a high incidence of pes planus. Pain follows and does harm to their daily life. To well manage their foot pain, it’s necessary to know the mechanism of the pain from the aspect of biomechanics. The purpose of this study was to characterize the abnormal biomechanical conditions of foot in Down syndrome children during standing, comparing to the normal control children by finite element method. Methods: Two participants aged 5 were recruited in this study that are a Down syndrome child with pes planus and a normal control child. Two three-dimension finite element foot models were constructed from CT of the two participants, each of which include bones, ligaments, plantar fascia, cartilages, epiphyseal plates and an encapsulated soft tissue. The plantar pressure during standing and anthropometric data were collected from the same participants for model validation and simulation. Results: The abnormal alignment of the transverse tarsal joint showed in Down syndrome child. The contact pressure in Down syndrome child was higher in tibiotalar joint, compared with the normal control child. The tensile force of spring, plantar calcaneocuboid ligaments in Down syndrome child was approximately 9 folds and 58 folds greater than normal control child, respectively. In Down syndrome child contact force of the talonavicular joint was 0.05 times the body weight and calcaneocuboid joint was near zero, whereas the value in normal control child was 0.11 and 0.01 respectively. Conclusion: The Down syndrome child showed abnormal biomechanical conditions in foot in terms of joints contact pressure, tensile force of ligament around transverse tarsal joint and contact force transmission through transverse tarsal joint. These abnormal biomechanical conditions resulted from pes planus are the potential factors that may cause their foot pain. Conservative interventions should be considered at their early age to eliminate negative effect of these potential factors.

Gene Polymorphisms That Predispose Women for Down Syndrome Child Birth

Down syndrome caused by presence of extra chromosome 21 originates from nondisjunction during parental gametogenesis. For overwhelming cases, the error occurs in oocyte and all the nondisjunction events are not stochastic. With increasing number of research efforts, it has come to know that maternal genetic architecture may be considered as risk factors for chromosomal errors. Polymorphisms of the genes involved in chromosome segregation, recombination and folic acid metabolisms have been investigated for their association with Down syndrome child birth. But the results are conflicting owing to ethnic and sociocultural differences. Here, we have discussed and summarized the outcome of the studies conducted on different population sample from different parts of world and tried to figure out the common polymorphisms, which could be used as makers for preconceptional screening of Down syndrome child birth risk among the women.

PENYESUAIAN PSIKOLOGIS ORANGTUA DENGAN ANAK DOWN SYNDROME

Parents wish to have a healthy child, both physically and mentally, but in fact not all couples blessed with healthy children and actually get a child with early developmental disorder, such as down syndrome (Mawardah, Siswati, & Hidayati, 2012). Ravindranadan dan Raju (2008) represent that parents with special needs face a stressor and different stress reactions related to their child disability. To face the stressor and stress resctions, Pozzo, Sarria and Brioso (2011) revealed that parents with disabilities need to make psychological adjustments. This situation attracts researcher to find out the experiences and psychological adjustments of parents with down syndrome child. This study use qualitative method with phenomenological approach. Respondents in this study were eight people, consisting of four fathers and four mothers who lived in Denpasar and Tabanan. The result of this study indicates that parents with down syndrome children are able to make psychological adjustment. There are five factors that influenced parents to make psychological adjustment, there are characteristics of down syndrome child are capable of independent, support and encouragement from the surrounding environment, has a positive perception of the child with down syndrome, using adaptive coping strategies and individual characteristics such as high education. Keywords: psychological adjustment, parent, down syndrome child.