Teenagers with Down Syndrome in a Time of Changing Policies and Practices: Progress of Students who were Born Between 1971 and 1978

Abstract

Since the early 1970s, significant changes have occurred in New South Wales in the educational services provided for students with Down syndrome which should have resulted in improved educational outcomes for the students. Information is reported, here, on the schooling, employment, life experiences, and general skills of sixty‐six 13‐ to 20‐year‐old students with Down syndrome who were born over the period 1971 to 1978. These results are compared with data on achievement levels reported in earlier British and American studies of students with Down syndrome. Overall, the personal and leisure skills of the two groups of students appeared to be similar, with some difficulties associated with social isolation. However, when compared with the other groups, the New South Wales students appeared to have received more of their education in integrated settings, attained higher levels in academic areas (reading and money skills), were more independent, required less supervision, and had more optimistic futures in terms of integrated employment and accommodation options. Clearly, the changes in services begun in the 1970s did result in improvements in outcomes for some students with Down syndrome, though it is also evident that changes in policy do not always lead to the implementation of more effective services for all students.