Behaviorism, humanism, and sociological labeling are some of the theoretical concepts that govern the attitude of community over these individuals. As the condition of Down syndrome progresses, the impact of various historical evolutions on the disease progression has greatly influenced the society’s perception over these individuals. In the past, the occurrence of these conditions had been attributed to Mongolian–like appearance; hence, connoted as mongoloids (Rogers and Coleman, 2002 p. 8).
However, this notion did not remain in the society, and soon after, it was also discarded. Behaviorism Theoretical Model Behaviorism is the theoretical concept that mainly focuses on behavioral patterns, motives, and actions of individuals towards other subjects. The concept played a major explanation for the occurrence of such community perception towards Down syndrome patients. The focus is on specific behavior, and the orientation is very much on the here and now. The basic principle underlying behaviorism is that all behavior is learned (Vito etal, 2007 p.
115). The fundamental behaviors are learned by operant conditioning and by imitation of other’s behavior. The condition of the learned behavior is strengthened by reward and avoidance of punishment or weakened by lack of reward and aversive stimuli. Whether a given behavior pattern persists depends on the differential reinforcement – the rewards and punishments attached to that behavior and the rewards and punishments attached to alternative behavior. In the past, children with the condition have experienced tremendous discrimination from their community.
They have experienced social isolation due to the conditions of insurgence in behavior similarities. Community inscribed the conditions of these individuals as abnormals in the society; hence, validated by behavioral negativism, the abnormality viewed by the community has caused them to be discriminated (Harris, 2005 p. 194). However, such discrimination has been validated by the research conducted by Kliewer (1998) wherein literary discriminative behavior was proven if rightful or appropriate response towards such individuals.
The methodology includes 10 students with Down syndrome that were examined for two annual periods. During the course of 2 school years, the research conducted tape-records of 45 observations and 12 interviews that resulted in 1,300 pages of field notes. The research reveled that the actual progression of condition does not affect the literary capacity of the individuals. In fact, the students have evidently manifested communicative directives over literary needs.
Although, the researched behavior of these individuals have been validated to possess lesser response towards isolation (Kliewer, 1998). The unproductiveness and inactive character of Down syndrome patients have established the behavioral discriminative approach of the community towards these individuals. By the principle of operant conditioning, the community has instilled to their minds that such individuals are burdens of their families and of the society; hence, they are discriminated and not provided with equal rights.