To Dad from Allan

Summer in the West when

everything is quiet And clear, with everything

beautiful and green.

With wild flowers of all colors,

and a small water creek.

And a beautiful blue sky. And

the trees are very still.

Sometimes a small breeze.

The author of these lines is Allan Schenkein, a 39-year-old with an IQ of less than 75 and one of 150,000 Americans who surfer from mongolism or Down's syndrome, a common form of severe retardation (TIME, May 8). Mongoloids are born with 47 chromosomes instead of the normal 46, usually have slanting eyes and small heads, and never grow very tall. Until recently, they were almost invariably put away in institutions, where they languished as near vegetables. What is different about Allan and a growing number of other mongoloids is that they have been lovingly nurtured at home. As a result, many--provided their IQs are not too low--have learned to lead happy and productive lives.

In the current issue of the Exceptional Parent, Allan's father, William Schenkein, writes a tribute to his son. Patiently, Schenkein and his wife Selma taught him to feed, dress and look after himself and sent him to special day schools where he learned the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. Now Allan travels alone by public bus to a simple job doing light factory work in a Denver agency for the retarded. More important, he has become a "sturdy, happy, friendly, cooperative person with a good sense of humor, good manners and a good sense of responsibility."

Another talent emerged when he was 35. Spontaneously, his father says, "Allan astonished us with some creative writing." Though "it is not prose, not poetry," it is always expressive. Recently, for example, he composed a greeting:

In it he observes: "Happy the day when everything is going right . . . Sometimes the day is nice. When they need you time ticks away . . . Time is now that reaches your 70th birthday. That it will be a time of your life and it will be always a happy birthday."

Of Allan's new ability to express his thoughts, the elder Schenkein says: "He loves it. It is another pleasure that he has in life."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.