I wanted to find out more about siblings of children with Down Syndrome, but on a more personal level. Instead of looking for studies and research articles, I tried finding an interview with someone that has a sibling with Down Syndrome. I found a lot of articles that focused on the parents of the child, but articles that focused on the siblings were hard to find. I finally found an interesting website where a mother blogs about having a child with Down Syndrome. She decided to interview the two siblings of her child with Down Syndrome.
http://www.imperfectparent.com/shortbus/having-sibling-with-down-syndrome/817_1/
The interview portion was really interesting to me because Nathaniel and Serena, the siblings, had only nothing but positive things to say about Eric, their brother with Down Syndrome. They admitted that their brother can be challenging to take care of, but they can't really imagine life without him. They discussed concern for their brother's future, regarding his health and how life in general may be hard for him as an adult. Overall, their brother seemed to have a positive impact on their lives and they seemed to be support siblings for their brother.
I have questions regarding the negative effects on having a sibling with Down Syndrome. For example, do the siblings of children with Down Syndrome have behavior problems that could be related to feeling like they don't get as much attention as their sibling?
Lindsey,
ReplyDeleteI really like that you were able to find a blog that was written by a parent of a child with Down Syndrome. The fact that she is courageous enough to put this information out in the world. As a mother, I couldn't imagine. After reading the interview she did with the other children, I was shocked that they were so positive about their sibling with Down Syndrome. This tells me that she is doing a great job showing affection equally among her children. With such positive attitudes these children may be able to educate others and provide positive insight on D.S.
Brooke