My 10-year old daughter has down's syndrome - How can teach her about growing up?
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budsue32
Community member Posts: 2 Listener
Hi my name is sue my Daughter is 10yrs old and has downs syndrome she may be 10 in age but more like a 6yr old in something i have to try to explain about periods soon any idea how to do it as she doesnt understand and she screems at the sight of blood
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Hi Sue,
Does your daughter go to a special school? If so then maybe the staff there would have experience they could share with you and maybe you could talk to her together in a way she would understand? My son has a severe learning disability and I remember realising that since he was a boy he wouldn't have to worry about this, so I completely understand your worry.
If she's in a mainstream school maybe you could ask her teacher of senco how they plan to explain this stuff to get- after all, it is part of the national curriculum, and PSHE is something they need to be teaching!
Are you part of any organisations or support groups that might be able to give you ideas - the Down Syndrome Association or anything like that?
Have you looked here
http://www.bild.org.uk/information/relationships/friendships-to-sexualhealth/#Puberty-and-periods
- some of these are free to download leaflets etc which might give you a place to start, and they are written for people with a learning disability.
The fact that she screams at the sight of blood is probably because she - like most of us - knows that blood probably means something is wrong - that you've cut your finger, or having a nosebleed, or in some way hurt yourself. This means she might associate the sight of blood with being in pain, or needing to go to the school nurse or the hospital or something. I suppose it might just be a xase of being really clear with her that this type of blood doesn't mean anything is wrong, and won't hurt - it's just her body doing what women's bodies do. Maybe starting very gradually talking about the other changes her body will go through first might make it a bit easier, and lots of casual comments about how grown up she is getting, how tall she is now - stuff like that, so it doesn't feel so unexpected when her body starts changing. Does she have older sisters, or (girl) cousins that she sees regularly? It might help her to know that this is something that happens to everyone.
Don't know if that's much help but please do let me know if you think any of it might help.
Lucas -
Hey @budsue32
There are lots of online resources and suggestions - here are the ones Scope recommends:
http://www.scope.org.uk/Support/Families/Diagnosis/Learning-difficulties/Sex
I've also found:
http://www.downs-syndrome.org.uk/for-families-and-carers/teenagers-and-young-adults/puberty/
http://www.bild.org.uk/information/relationships/friendships-to-sexualhealth/#Puberty-and-periods
http://www.easyhealth.org.uk/sites/default/files/Lets_Talk_About_Puberty.pdf
my work computer has blocked some of these links as being NSFW! so unfortunately, I can't check them to see if they are current / appropriate.
hoepfully others will also have suggestions!
-B -
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Oo, Beth - I like that! Very straightforward and plenty of pictures, as well as the symbols which your daughter might well already be familiar with from school Sue - great find Beth!
Lucas -
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