Help..doing a seat check for a child with Down's

I have seat check scheduled for next Tuesday for a family that has a 4yr with Down's who only weighs 28lbs. I actually did a seat check for a mom in my moms group who is this child's DCP - she didn't have the child with her at that time. She passed my card along to his mother who in turn contacted me.

Obviously he's still "light" enough to rear-face, and his DCP says small for his age since he's the same size as her 3yo. So I've chatted with the boy's mother and mentioned to her that he should still be rear-facing. She also mentioned that he does have really low muscle tone, especially in his neck. I'm pretty sure I can convince her to turn him around, but I'm wondering if anyone out there has any more information about why extended rear-facing is so important for children with Down's. Any websites, articles, etc. would be greatly appreciated. TIA

Ask this mother if her child has had the x-rays of his neck for Atlantoaxial Instability (AAI). This is common in children with Down syndrome. If he does have it then Rear facing is as critical for him as a newborn. Just a fender bender could paralyze him in this case. They correct it with surgery.

http://ds-health.com/aai.htm

If his neck x-rays are good then you can simply argue the fact that children with Down syndrome develop more slowly. This is evident by her son's small size. Those bones in the neck will also take longer to fuse together. Most think it happens around age 4, some say around age 6. I'm sure it varies from child to child.

However, my daughter outgrow the BV rear facing at age 4. But she is tall, even for a child with Down syndrome. She's the size of a typical 4 year, about the size of most 6 year old's with DS. The majority of kids with Down syndrome that I have met could Rear face until about 6 years old. How cool is that?

Really I think the same arguments you would use for anyone will be good. Explaining the forces of accidents, his low muscle tone puts him at increased risk as well as developing more slowly.

However the other thing to consider is keeping this child harnessed as long as possible. For a 4 year old I would be more comfortable knowing that he would be harnessed for another 6 years... than knowing he would be rear facing another year. If that makes sense? I ran into this with a lady here with a 5 year old. We ended up going with a Regent for him because this was the last carseat they would buy. I was concerned he would outgrow a Marathon before being ready for a booster. But I don't even know what your options are in this case, I just wanted to throw that out there.

There is also the possibility that the child will not tolerate rear facing again. 4 year olds can be mighty stubborn. You should have seen the hell I went through when I turned mine forward facing! It was weeks before I could drive without her yelling at me. lol

I think it is awesome you are taking the time to research this, feel free to let me know if you have anymore questions.

Riley Children's Hospital in Indiana is the special needs CPS leaders. Maybe they have some info about CPS and Down Syndrome.

http://rileychildrenshospital.com/

. . .I've taken the special needs class but don't have the info at hand and can't remember. . .

SingleMomTo2Girls already hit on the neck vertibra instability. . .

Kids w/Downs often have low tone and developmental delays. Both of which would be reasons to promote extending rf'ing and most certainly HWH use.

Kohls Center for Safe Transportation of Children (in conjunction with Riley) has an AWESOME brochure for parents on safely transporting their child with Downs Syndrome. They have brochures specifically for many different types of needs - and each brochure features children with that need (for example, all of the kids in the DS brochure have DS). I can't find the brochure online, but here is a link to order it:
http://www.preventinjury.org/literature.asp
Here is a link to the FAQ on the same site - scroll down to the section on children with DS and one question is "how long should I keep my child with DS rear-facing?"
http://www.preventinjury.org/SNTFaq.asp

I will see if I can find my brochure and scan it in for you. It may take me a couple of days.
Renee

I wish that advocated extended harnessing as much as it does extended rear facing... but other than that it looks good.