Down Syndrome: The First 18 Months

Down Syndrome, the most common chromosomal abnormality, occurs in one out of every 800 babies, and while there are prenatal detection tests available, many parents don't discover that their baby is afflicted until birth or even later. Producer/director Will Schermerhorn's (whose infant son was diagnosed with the disorder) Down Syndrome: The First 18 Months is a thoughtful, well-organized four-segment program--including “The Newborn,” “Health Concerns,” “Therapies,” and “New Expectations”--with 27 chapters that interweave interviews with nine world-renowned researchers and physicians together with comments from parents of children with Down's. Topics include the “47 chromosomes,” caring for newborns, breastfeeding under special circumstances, monitoring the baby's cardiac development and nutrition, physical and speech/language therapies, and the challenge of new expectations. The combination of hard medical data and empathetic insights from those who have been there make this an essential purchase for both public and university libraries. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: C, P. (R. Reagan)