Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month

March 1, 2023

By Robert Recker

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 DDs 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 DDs, so they can take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of their child developing a DD and prepare to care for a child with a DD.

Just Like You

Check out this video celebrating Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month

Incontinence and Developmental Disabilities

Incontinence is more common in children with DDs than in typically developing children. Incontinence can be due to a variety of reasons for children with DDs. 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 have a bowel movement. Common developmental disabilities with a risk of incontinence include:

• Spina bifida
• Cerebral palsy
• Autism
• Down syndrome
• Angelman’s syndrome

Incontinence is a very challenging condition for the affected individual and their family/caregiver, no matter what age or what 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, it creates numerous product changes each 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 the Tranquility Product Family Can Help

At Tranquility®, we manufacture three brands of incontinence products, Tranquility, Select®, and ComfortCare™. Tranquility and Select brands feature 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 options to meet the needs of anyone with a 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 DDs have more information, resources, and support than ever before. Children and adults with a DD are embraced by communities and schools, and resources like assistive technology and parent groups help 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 communities continue the amazing progress.