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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, June 25, 2010 · 24 Living Oakville Beaver LIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN Phone: 905-337-5560 Fax: 905-337-5571 e-mail: ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.com PHOTOS COURTESY HALTON DOWN SYNDROME ASSOCIATION IN CLASS: Busy at the Halton Down Syndrome Association's Learning Resource Centre are, clockwise from top left, Rachel Spyridakis, teacher Ashley MacPhee and Natalie Steele, Max Dunn and his mom Marie Dunn; dad Rich Charter and son Mitchell; teacher Stephanie Borg and Dominic Montanaro; Max Dunn; and, Natalie Steele. Empowering kids By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Parents are passionate about their kids. Perhaps no one knows better how important such passion can be to a child's development than the parent of a child with Down syndrome. Here in Halton, a group of parents recognized that 26 years ago when they founded the Halton Down Syndrome Association (HDSA) -- a successful venture that aimed to support children with Down syndrome and their families. Today, the group offers a new parents program; advocacy, including representation at Halton school boards' Special Education Advisory Committees; networking and social events; recreational programs and access to resources. After a quarter of a century of living with the proof that investment in kids pays off for children, the association -- that is still run by parents with no government funding -- has moved a step forward to push the boundaries even more -- for their children. It's called the HDSA Learning Resource Centre (LRC). Those at the helm of the HDSA are convinced the right environment, parental passion and involvement, and specific teaching strategies will lead to greater achievement by their children. "Children with Down syndrome survive, but we want them to thrive," said HDSA president Leanne Kirk of Oakville. With focused collaboration between children, parents, educators, medical professionals and society in general, kids with Down syndrome could make much greater gains than they generally do to date, according to Kirk. "It's not the people with Down syndrome, it's the world around them," said Kirk. To make it all happen, the HDSA volunteer directors headed to Calgary to study the success story of the Down syndrome clinic operated through the Alberta Children's Hospital. The parents then came up with their own delivery model and then set about making it happen. Kirk said parents are not out to change things or segregate their kids, but rather explore the possibilities and share the information with others in the hope that it may expand the potential, and the horizons, of their own children and others with Down syndrome. "A person with Down syndrome is a person first and a person with Down syndrome second," reads the HDSA brochure. The result is a pilot project, an eight-week rental of space and the assembly of an appropriate team to deliver the HDSA-envisioned model of instruction. It has served 22 families with children aged 18 months to 14 years across four levels See May page 25