Ms Aileen O'Donovan:

It does get easier but that is because work is put in at the early intervention stage. It stands to the child going forward. You could learn a lot from that. Put all that in but it has to continue. You cannot just stop. I am for that; early intervention is essential. As parents, you get a bit more confident that you can manage things. What happens then is you start getting into different territories with other medical issues that may crop up. For example, our son was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes. He was predisposed to it because he has Down's syndrome. Other kids we know of have Down's syndrome-associated arthritis, like juvenile arthritis. That brings another different slant to it. Many children have thyroid issues and things like that. No service can help you juggle all those balls. Early intervention and provision of that early are good but it must continue all the time.