Down S Syndrome

A new blood screening test can detect Down's syndrome in a fetus nearly two months earlier than previously possible, potentially reducing complications for pregnant women, according to a report in today's New England Journal of Medicine. Young women in North America and Europe usually take blood tests between 16 and 18 weeks of pregnancy to learn if their fetus has the genetic defect, which is marked by mental retardation and physical defects.

They left the hospital together Wednesday, a boy with Down syndrome who lost his arm in a car crash, and the teenage brother who has promised to take care of him from now on. Juan Reyes, 18, had been at his brother's hospital bedside for three months, ever since a September car accident took the life of their mother and so severely injured 10-year-old Elfego Reyes that his left arm had to be amputated.

The American Film Institute will present the 15th annual Global Village Documentary Festival--consisting of 25 film, video and made-for-television documentaries--in its Mark Goodson Screening Room nightly from Friday through June 24. Living up to its title, the festival offers works ranging from Central America to AIDS to child abuse to a 190-minute chronicle about a Houston neighborhood that has experienced integration, blockbusting, white flight...

Hyde's old-fashioned views concerning abortion are disturbing. In this modern age, seeing an elected official use words like: right, wrong, ethics, and morals, really makes me wonder. Don't he and his kind realize that when an unplanned pregnancy gets in the way, it should be terminated? Can't he have compassion for the couple who aborts several female babies because they only want a boy? Wouldn't he want to have a fetus removed from the womb limb by limb if he discovered it had Down's syndrome and wouldn't experience that quality of life only available to the intelligent, beautiful and rich?

I'm a 25-year-old young man who was born with autism, and I relate to the show "Life Goes On" because Corky, the main character of the show, played by Chris Burke, has Down's syndrome, like Burke himself. I personally think it's the best show on TV, but I want Howard Rosenberg to know that his lawyer brother is not alone in liking the show so much ("There's More to 'Life' Than Ratings," April 18). Besides, I know a girl at my program, the Adult Skills Center in Van Nuys, who has that disability too. She personally knows Burke because she was an extra on "Life Goes On."

When Sydney Taylor entered first grade in 1991, education experts warned she'd probably never learn to read. Today, Sydney's bedroom shelves are crammed with hundreds of books--the Babysitters' Club series topping her favorites. The experts warned that Sydney would be a classroom disruption, incapable of fitting in with "normal" kids. This year, she was elected to the eighth-grade student council.

It was his last week of high school, and Johnny Palacio navigated the hallways like an accomplished veteran, weaving through the throngs of students with determination. Every few moments, he accepted a high-five from another student. "He's just a freshman," Johnny said of the latest greeter. "But it's OK. He probably just knows I'm a senior. Seniors rule!"

Hulking and taciturn, the teenager slumped on the couch, watching his little brother draw with his only hand. The younger one should have been in school, but the teenager was too tired to get up that early. The little apartment--and the little boy--needed cleaning, but it felt so hard to stir himself from the couch. There were telephone calls to make about their future, but those could wait a few more hours, or maybe a few more days.