I runa daycare from my house. In September I will have a 7 year old with DS starting. My girls understand DS because of their cousin. I bought the book "paint the octopus red" for my girls when you guys told me about it. They also know that this lettle girls has DS but the other kids don't. Do I tell them? This little girl isn't mainstreamed so she isn't at the girls school or anything. And she gets a taxi to bring her back and forth to school...Where all the other kids take the same bus (including her little sister). Any advice would be appreciated.

I would, just like I go talk to Angela's classmates at the beginning of the school year.

I usually read an age appropriate book about the topic (and going into 4th grade, this is getting more difficult to find. Maybe I need to write one! LOL) and then you could say something like this (assuming you know enough about this little girl to do so)

Next week we have a new person coming to daycare here. Her name is Mary. When Mary comes you might notice that she looks a lot like the kids in this book. That's because Mary has Down Syndrome just like they do. That may mean that sometimes you have a hard time understanding what Mary is trying to say. That's ok, just try your best, and if you're stuck, ask for help. It may mean that Mary has a hard time with some of the things we do around here. That's ok, we'll just give her a little extra time. But it's really important that we let Mary tell us when she wants help, so that she can do things on her own just like you guys do. I know I have trouble doing (xxxx) sometimes. Maybe some of you have trouble doing xxxx and need to ask for help. Mary is no different. I'm so excited for Mary to come! She's going to have so much fun with you guys, and you're going to have fun with her too!