Down Syndrome, One Family’s Journey: Beth Exceeds Expectations

This book follows Beth, a woman born with Down Syndrome, to adulthood. In an earlier book, Bethy and the Mouse, the Reverend Bakely followed Beth and her brother Matthew, born with a microcephalic brain, through their preschool years. Beth entered a mainstreamed preschool and continued in mainstreamed classes until her graduation at 12th grade. During these years, she placed in the fiftieth to seventy-fifth percentile. She participated in the chorus and the orchestra in high school, spent much time with her peers in school and in her community. She has since gone on to take college courses and has graduated with a certificate in recreational therapy.

Beth's achievements are exceptional for persons born with Down Syndrome. Some of the contributing factors include an excellent early education program, mainstreamed schooling and community living, and a receptive and encouraging family.

She and her siblings discuss their life together, and her future. Her father includes extensive discussion about his role in Beth's development. He includes accounts about his meetings with professionals both skeptical and encouraging. In this wry and positive book, Beth shows more everyday achievements than was predicted for her, and Reverend Bakely relates his insights into rearing children with disabilities so they can mature competently as adults.