Flemish Painting Features Angel with Down's Syndrome

The Adoration of the Christ Child

This oil on wood painting shows a classic nativity scene, and the little angels kneeling at the front on the left clearly has Down's syndrome. Some think the shepherd at the back on the left also has an additional chromosome.

At the time when the work was created it was common for the faces of those who had commissioned the art to feature within it. Perhaps we are looking at the face of the much-loved daughter of a wealthy and proud 16th Century Flemish family here. 

The 1515 Flemish painting, by an unknown artist, depicts an angel (next to Mary) and possibly the shepherd in the centre of the background, with Down's syndrome.

It's wonderful, and it shows that Trisomy 21 has been around for a very long time. The Flemish artist is unknown, but was a follower of Jan Joest of Kalker. The painting resides at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Festive Fine Motor Skill Fun: Paper Chains!

It's that time of year! A recycling box full of unwanted catalogues and children wanting Christmas craft ideas.

Once I've flicked through them, if I even get time for that, I pop them straight into the recycling bin, making a mental note to remove myself from the umpteen mailing lists. 

That is, until last week when Natty was off school due a sudden bout of bed and pyjama-covering vomiting. Clearly not able to go to school but jolly and chirpy in herself, we decided to settling down to a spot of Mummy and daughter making and doing.

The plush paper booklets, fliers and leaflets lay on the kitchen table as we ate our breakfast, promising ever more original gifts for the neighbour, teacher, pet dog... 

AHA! I thought. They were all in festive colours, silvers and greys with touches of red and green splurged on them. They would make perfect Christmas decorations: paper chain material! 

In the past I have bought costly paper chain making kits, the sort where your child ingests copious amounts of glue, licking the ends to stick them together. They look lovely but... we would have a go at making our own, for a fraction of the cost.

You will need:

unwanted Christmas catalogues

scissors or a guillotine

stapler 

I cut the paper into roughly similar widths and lengths then Natty began looping the strips through each other and holding them in place while I stapled them together. I was struck by how fiddly this was and what a super little exercise for developing her fine motor skills. Her Occupational Therapist would have been proud!

She even demanded to do it all by herself. The stapler was a little stiff for her small hands but with a bit of help she got the hang of it. 

The results were better than I could have imagined, we made meters of the cheap decorations over a few days. And more importantly Natty learnt a new life skill and she was kept occupied while getting over her tummy bug.

Happy Christmas artsy crafty creating!


Check out our Christmas Pinterest Ideas here. 
You might also like to read Painting a Triceratops: Fine Motor Skills Development here. Or try Christmas pretzel biscuits here.

Natty: Our star of the week!

There are some weeks when our children astonish us with new milestones and achievements that all seem to tumble out of them at once. It's as if they've been working on them all for a while and then suddenly, booom, they crack it.

I'm convinced that Natty has had a cognitive burst post tonsil and adenoid surgery. I like to think its all that fabulous oxygen whooshing around her body all night while she sleeps uninterrupted!

Our little 6 year old star has bowled us all over recently with her amazing artwork and handwriting. So here's the bragging rights evidence:

Natty received the Star of the Week Award for writing a 2 page long story. 

It took 3 weeks and lots of support, but it was all her own work.

Then we entered a Christmas card competition. 

I provided the sponge and paint and this is what she created, including drawing the antlers.

And my absolute favourite is her drawing of Willy Wonka as part of the Roahl Dahl topic at school. You can see he's dancing.

Natty's comment was, "I'm very very proud of Natty."

And so you should be darling, so you should be.

Turning a day trip into a learning activity for your child with Down's Syndrome

Here's how you can maximise on the learning potential of a simple weekend trip to the woods with your kids, a train journey, or in fact any fun day out.

The bank holiday is coming to a close and it's been lovely. Nice weather, time out together as a family and no-one was ill. After the end to end chest infections of the Easter holidays that was really welcome.

We got out as much as we could, some of it in our garden, watering our veggies and making obstacle courses with all the toys, and a couple of trips.

We don't always have time, or the energy (we are not super parents!) but we often 'top and tail' any trip with related activites designed to maximise vocabulary learning and consolidation of any skills learnt. It's a very brain-friendly way of teaching your child and they won't even realise that's what you are doing.

For example:

Today we went for a walk in the woods with the dog. It was a 3km walk which I knew would be a long way for Natty and that she would try to give up and make us carry her. 

First

We dug out our old favourite book We're Going on A Bear Hunt and read it together. It's a lovely repetitive story and we all shouted out the strapline: 

'We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, we're not scared.' 

We told Natty we were going on a bear hunt together and she read the story to herself in the car en route.

Then

Once at the woods we started our walk as usual, but all the way round we were looking for evidence of bears. 

We found brown bear poo (It was brown so it had to be...)

Twigs broken by bears, thick forest where they were sure to live and then...

The bear cave itself! The girls explored inside and then pretended to be bears, chasing each other out.

We picked dandelions and daisies and left them for the bear to eat. Constantly working on new vocabularly and Natty's pronunciation.

Finally:

When we arrived home we chatted about our adventure and the girls drew a picture of the bear and his cave.

Put simply, whatever outing you do with your child with a Learning Disability, from a walk to a zoo trip, do a little activity first, plan a simple activity to do during the trip and then follow up with a related story or piece of art afterwards, it could even be a themed DVD if they are tired.

Happy exploring!

We have just signed up to the National Trust 50 Things To Do Before You're 11 3/4. There are fabulous outdoorsy activities to try each weekend andmost are completely free. They range from rolling down a hill to den building, net fishing and cooking on a camp fire. With each one you try you fill in a form and get awards and badges. You can even log photos in your online scrapbook.

I've already told you, it's called Triceratops!

A precious little clip of our clever youngest girl, not only delicately and proudly painting independently, but saying Triceratops pretty clearly too!