Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month

March is National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. To help raise awareness for Developmental Disabilities (DD), we will talk about the prevalence of DDs, incontinence and DDs, how Tranquility can help children and families dealing with DDs and incontinence, and some of the most common DDs.

Developmental Disabilities (DD) are a complex collection of conditions and disorders that cause intellectual disabilities, speech disorders, physical impairments, and medical conditions. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), approximately 16% of all children in the U.S. have a developmental disability. In addition, the prevalence of DD is increasing over time, with a 17% increase over the last decade. It is important for new parents and soon to be parents to understand the risks of DD, so they can take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of their child developing a DD and prepare to care for a child with DD.

Just Like You

Check out this video celebrating Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month

Incontinence and Developmental Disabilities

Incontinence is more common in children with DD than in typically developing children. Incontinence can be due to a variety of reasons for children with DD. Often, incontinence is a result of signal interference from the brain to the bladder, or bladder to the brain, informing of the need to urinate or a bowel movement. Common developmental disabilities with a risk of incontinence include:

• Spina Bifida
• Cerebral palsy
• Autism
• Down Syndrome
• Angelman’s syndrome
• And others

Incontinence is a very challenging condition for the affected individual and their family/caregiver no matter what age or what other conditions the person may have. With adults and children with DD, the challenges can be even more difficult due to the disability, extra medical care, adapting to parenting a child with DD, assimilating the child in school and the community, and much more. When incontinence is not managed properly and you must deal with many product changes a day, extra laundry for clothes and linens, along with all the other daily difficulties. Finding the right incontinence product for someone with DD can help you focus on what matters most and give you the peace of mind that your child is protected and won’t leak due to incontinence.

How Tranquility Product Family Can Help

At Tranquility, we manufacture multiple youth sized diapers for children who grow out of traditional baby diapers. The gap between baby diapers and adult diapers can be very difficult, and the right youth diaper can have a huge impact! We also offer a full range of adult diapers for adults with DD. With both pull-on style and tape-tab diaper style products, we have multiple option to meet the needs of anyone with DD. Our premium, high absorbency diapers allow for hours of protection, keeping the skin dry and healthy. Also, the Tranquility Product Family (Tranquility, Select, ComfortCare) has youth diapers that are covered under Medicaid (coverage varies by state).

Shop our Youth Diapers and Adult Diapers today to learn more about our products. Or give us a call and we’d be happy to help you find the best products for your child or an adult with DD.

The Most Common Developmental Disabilities

Some of the most common developmental disabilities include: Down syndrome, Autism, Spina Bifida, Cerebral Palsy, Tourette syndrome, fetal alcohol and drug-related syndromes, intellectual disabilities, and more. Often, children are born with a DD, like Cerebral Palsy and Down syndrome, however some DDs are not diagnosed until the child is over 3 years old.

With advancements in medicine, technology, and policy, families and children with DD have more information, resources, and support than ever before. Children and adults with DD are embraced by communities and schools, and resources like assistive technology and parent groups helps the child and parents adapt to life with a disability. Society has come a long way over the last 50 years in how we treat, talk about, and value disabilities, and we hope to help our community continue the amazing progress.