Charcloth, your friends are very lucky and I hope that progress continues and young John improves each day......We will certainly be holding a good thought as always.

I have a special place in my heart for Down kids. Your friends will need to make some adjustments to their life and the Syndrome has a broad spectrum of functioning levels. Perhaps the hospital already has, but it would be of great benefit, even this early, to get in touch with the Down Syndrome Parental Support Group in the Dayton area, and also with the MR/DD folks. If they need help in making the appropriate contacts, PM me and I'll put them together with the right people.

My 9 year old son Tristan is MR/DD and attends Special Ed. classes with several classmates, including his "girlfriend," who are Down Syndrome kids. His class goes bowling every month and it's a high point for me because I always go too. If there are kids who have a better time, I've never seen them.

Let me know if I can help out. I'm not far outside of Columbus and have worked with MR/DD and Down Groups all over the state.

Spaw