Is it possible some parents would not want a treatment that would significantly boost the cognitive functioning of their child with Down syndrome?

Yes, it is.  And no, I'm not one of them, but the whole prospect makes me darned nervous.

When Kelly was in her early teens, and we had already spent a decade working ourselves silly getting Down Home Ranch started, she would say on occasion, “When I'm 21 I'm going to move to New York City and eat spicy food.”

And her dad would say (with admirable forbearance, I thought), “Sweetie, if that's what you want to do, your dad will help you do it.”

I, on the other hand, would point out that Texas is, in fact, the spicy food capital of our nation.

But just because I get the mommy-jitters at the prospect of my kid claiming a future difference from the one I had envisioned for her, that doesn't mean I can't learn to expand my own horizons and help her dreams–not mine–come true.

Fortunately, the spicy New York food phase seems to have passed.  Still, Kelly wants what her sisters have.  Not all of it is realistically feasible (I suspect the joy of parenthood would fade before the sun first had a chance to set on it…)

But most of it is.