Coping with the emotional strain of having a child with down syndrome

I have an adult son with ds who also has significant challenges in communication.  I taught him Makaton also and it was a big help.  I think re the discipline thing that with a child with a learning disability you really have to adjust your expectations about what is naughty and what is lack of understanding of consequences etc and it takes time to do that.  I also foster children and again, the behaviour difficulties come from a very different place than those of more typically developing children raised in stable birth families and they need a different kind of parenting again.  not sure if you have access to a local DS support group?  if there is one near to you i'd recommend you visit, I found peer support very helpful when my son was younger.

re the therapy, I have had therapy for a different issue and it has been very helpful in enabling me to see more positive ways of managing stuff that gets thrown at me.  I can thoroughly recommend it!  if you have the financial resources it may be better to find a private therapist because you a) get the choice of therapist and therapy style you would prefer, and b) the therapy is not limited to 6-8 sessions as with nhs therapy.  I found that I needed a lot longer than 8 weeks to build the relationship with teh therapist that is vital for therapy to be effective.