Growing up with Down syndrome The developing child and its parents

This thesis consists of two parts. The first part describes the results of a follow-up study concerning early life thyroid hormone treatment in children with Down syndrome. The purpose of this treatment during the first two years of life was to stimulate development and growth. Beside the results of this follow-up study, developmental outcomes that were collected during the first two years of life and at the age of 10 years were described in detail.
The second part of this thesis describes the outcomes of questionnaire studies concerning the psychosocial functioning in parents of children with Down syndrome. Parental health related quality of life (HRQoL) is compared with that of controls, and predictors of HRQoL domains that show lower scores in parents of children with DS are explored. Further, family functioning and outcomes of a psychosocial screening instrument concerning the parental burden and everyday problems were analyzed. Both the perspectives of fathers and of mothers are taken into account.