Health vs. Wellness

This morning's first session was on Wellness in Adolescents and Adults with Down syndrome, but most of the information easily applies to all ages.  Dr. Chicoine, the Medical Director of the Adult Down Syndrome Center in Park Ridge, IL, was the presenter for this topic.  He discussed several issues such as the difference of health vs. wellness, 'the groove', chronological difficulties, and involvement in health plans.

When he talks about health, it's really about what doctors, professionals, and care givers do for their clients with Ds.  Health issues can be things such as thyroid, gastro, neurological, psychological, etc.  Health interventions are what we do to correct the physical and mental problems our kids may face. Wellness, on the other hand, looks at the whole person, and it is something that is planned and done with the clients.  Wellness is looking not just at physical well being and behaviors, but looking at how the physical challenges and emotional needs work together to create the whole person.  We heard a recorded interview from an adult with Ds, and he spoke of his wellness by citing his exercise, eating habits, healthy relationships, his job, and his happiness with himself and his life.

Next up is a topic near and dear to my heart: the Groove.  Have you seen the Walt Disney movie the Emperor's New Groove?  There's a character in the movie that states "Beware the Groove...".  This is when our kids create a habit, and need to complete those circumstances or behaviors over and over again.  This isn't all bad!  Dr. Chicoine noted that our kids often are very good workers at jobs that require precise or repetitive tasks, because they develop a groove.

There are times, though, when the groove can prove detrimental.  His example given was of  a young adult that felt compelled to complete one task before beginning another; so much so that he would forego necessary bathroom breaks in order to finish school papers.  As you can imagine, this caused accidents in High School, and the young man then had difficulties with peers, as they saw him as unable to control himself.  Working with him, Dr. Chicoine created a short video of him doing homework at home.  He worked for 30 seconds, then said aloud "I need a bathroom break", and walked out of the picture.  He viewed this video multiple times, and was able to create a new groove to follow.

As many of the presenters did, Dr C. noted that our kids are often very visual learners.  Making short videos, or watching videos, of tasks and social stories can greatly benefit our kids.

Chronological difficulties also often come into play with our kids.  For example, my daughter remembers quite well when David and I took an airplane to another conference.  However, she can't really differentiate when that happened.  For her, she'll say 'yesterday' or 'last week'.  This is very typical, (I was very relieved to hear we are not alone) of kids with Ds.  Their memories are excellent, but often their chronological sense is not as keen.  This can cause problems, sometimes.  The example given was the client that secured a job, and told the new employer that staff pushed him.  Staff did push him at his job, but it had happened 10 years previously.  All well and good, but now the employer has tagged him as a behavioral problem for lying.

These examples were given to demonstrate how we need to look at Wellness, the whole picture-the whole person-the whole situation, when planning for our kids.  Everything is connected and wrapped together in a connected chain of events, experiences, and needs.

The Adult Down Syndrome Center in IL has created many videos for clients on many topics that are FREE to view and use.  They use clients from the clinic, as they have found that peer modelling also works better than just having a stranger tell them what to do.

 I would highly suggest taking a look at their offerings at www.advocatehealth.com/health-services/adult-down-syndrome-center/ to view their resources and video gallery.  You can also search "Seeing is Believing" by Tom Buggey.  This series was made for kids with autism, but they can work for any kid in need of video modelling.