Development in Children With Down Syndrome: facts, findings, the future

Abstract

This broad overview of progress in our understanding of Down syndrome and of the problems it presents for children affected by it was prompted by the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Down Syndrome Research Program at the Fred and Eleanor Schonell Special Education Research Centre, The University of Queensland. This internationally‐acclaimed program has focused on many aspects of development in Down syndrome and on how Down syndrome impacts on the lives of children and their families. Some of the many contributions the Schonell team have made to our knowledge of Down syndrome are covered in other papers in this special issue and will also be mentioned below. In evaluating the role of this work, however, it is important to put it into context. This paper therefore provides a brief‐‐and necessarily selective‐‐ account of some past and present findings from research into Down syndrome and makes some tentative suggestions as to what may be important avenues of investigation for the next generation of researchers.