World Down Syndrome Day: Barriers in the Education System

In Mexico, it is difficult to know the educational situation of people with Down syndrome because there is not even any official numbers.

The latest data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) in 2014 indicate that 7.1 million inhabitants in Mexico They have a disability, but do not specify which type. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), cited in a diagnosis from the Secretariat for Public Education (SEP), Mexican students with disabilities are less likely to go to school. ;school. About 47% of these children do not attend kindergarten, 17% do not attend primary school and 27% never go to secondary school.

Children with Down syndrome (DS) rarely receive school education in the country, despite the fact that since 1992, an agreement has been signed to create a special education space within the SEP.

In 2017, a statement from the Federal District Human Rights Commission (CDHDF) said that people with this syndrome to cope with obstacles in the education system which prevents them from exercising their right to education under equal conditions.

Down syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by the additional presence of genetic material on chromosome 21, which is why it is also called trisomy 21.

L & # 39; education for people with this condition is necessary because helps them to have independence and integrate socially, explained Melania Orozco, teacher and therapist for children with DS, in an interview with the University of Valle de Atemajac (UNIVA) in Jalisco. The specialist suggests that the educational model adapts to the needs of the student.

One of the characteristics of people with trisomy 21 is that their learning is slow, which gives them difficult to have a complete education and generate appropriate relationships. But Orozco does not consider that the syndrome affects its development, socially or personally, in an incorrigible way.

For their education, children with DS need various materials and therapies, especially in the field of language. On the other hand, the social pressure to which they are subjected, like rejection, mockery and even violence, inside or outside the family, exacerbates their condition.

With the signing of the National Agreement for the Modernization of Basic Education in 1992, the Multiple service center (CAM) where students with different disabilities are welcomed at the same school. In theory, they organize age groups and follow the same curriculum as ordinary school students.

Even like that, special education has shortcomings. One is the inadequate infrastructure CAM installations. Ana María López Vega, specialist in hearing and language disorders and a specialist educator for 25 years, said Infobae Mexico CAMs are not equipped with the necessary infrastructure for each disability.

In addition, specialist educators face the challenge of working with groups of students with different types of disabilities. Since 2009, when the SEP made a change to CAM, all children live together in the same clbad. Before, explains López Vega, they badigned the students according to their diagnosis. There was a room for those who had SD, another for autistics and another for people with Asperger's syndrome.

People with trisomy 21 they learn by imitation and repetition. By placing them in clbadrooms with autistic people, people with cerebral palsy, language problems or mental disorders it is difficult for them to progress in their learning because they imitate the behavior of their peers.

With this form of organization is very complicated to be in front of a group of handicaps as diverse, says the special educator. You can not be a specialist in each case, let alone there is no training for them on these issues.

If a teacher wants to know a particular disability in order to adapt their plan and develop learning strategies that are adapted to their student's needs, they must: Learn for yourself.

With information from Kayleigh Bistrá Alcázar