Katy's story

"...she continues to defy expectations and we consider ourselves fortunate that we had contact with the Centre at the right time."

“The first time I came into contact with the charity, Katy was six months old...there was an advertisement for Down Syndrome Education International's first weekend conference at Portsmouth University, so we decided to attend.

“It was a really inspiring weekend, with such a wealth of information and useful contacts...But, probably the most important thing we learned was about early intervention – about the importance of teaching the children early reading to improve their language skills. It was advice which meant that when Katy went into reception classes, it was she who was reading to the other children, not the other way around.

“Katy has been in mainstream education throughout her childhood and keeping in contact with the charity has meant that when we have faced problems – such as when she was in primary school and we found out that she was being segregated from the other children in her class – we were able to call on them for help and advice on how to handle it.

“We've been fortunate not to have had any other educational problems since then and Katy has already completed one year of her GCSE courses. She has been offered a place on a Leisure and Tourism course next year and has just completed work experience at a primary school – which she absolutely loved.

“All in all, she continues to defy expectations and we consider ourselves fortunate that in the early days we had contact with the centre at the right time. As to the future, we'll just wait and see – just like you would for any other child.”

Ros, mother of 15 year old Katy.

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