Haring Center

5. Model Program for Children with Down Syndrome

 

In 1971, children with Down syndrome did not often attend public schools. A victim of negative stereotypes, children with Down syndrome, like other children with disabilities, were simply not granted admission to public schools based on the assumption they would not be able to learn.

A team of researchers and educators at the Haring Center changed all of that by creating the Model Program for Children with Down Syndrome — a program designed to demonstrate that young children with Down syndrome would benefit from and flourish with access to early intervention and education. This dedicated team worked tirelessly to find new ways to teach children with disabilities using principles of Applied Behavior Analysis paired with lessons from early childhood education. Concerned with the neutral results of intervention with older children with Down syndrome, Valentine Dmitriev concluded that intervention had to begin in infancy.

The model program began by teaching a single child with Down syndrome, Dennis, who could not speak how to read so he could have a way to communicate. Dennis’ remarkable strides allowed the program to grow quickly. Dmitriev and Patricia Oelwein were awarded a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Handicapped Children’s Early Education Program, and in 1975 earned recognition as a program that was exemplary and worthy of nationwide dissemination and replication. Eventually, the methodology reached six continents.

A fundamentally groundbreaking approach to educating children with Down syndrome, the program’s results proved that not only could children with Down syndrome read, but they posted reading scores surpassing their ages and corresponding reading levels. One of the first major breakthroughs in the early days of special education research, the Down Syndrome Program remains an example of the Haring Center’s capability to effect change on a nationwide level and further inclusive education.

A fundamentally groundbreaking approach to educating children with Down syndrome, the program’s results proved that not only could children with Down syndrome read, but they posted reading scores surpassing their ages and corresponding reading levels.

Dmitriev continued on with her research authoring Time to Begin – Early Education for Children with Down Syndrome along with a variety of published works on child development. She served as a consultant to school districts, childcare and developmental centers as well as university education programs in dozens of cities nationally.

Oelwein remained a teacher for a number of years until becoming a trainer and coordinator for outreach programs. She has provided training for educators teaching children with Down syndrome and other developmental delays in more than a dozen countries, including 25 years of consulting a preschool in Saudi Arabia which services 160 individuals with Down syndrome from birth to 21 years of age.

Trailblazers in the truest sense, Dmitriev and Oelwein dedicated their careers to a subject at the heart of inclusion and as a result, thousands of children with Down syndrome have learned to read, and did so in the traditional classroom setting. The work done by these researchers and their team not only changed the lives of the children and families who participated in their programs, but of all children with disabilities who followed who are now entitled to a free and appropriate public education.