Book excerpt: This book provides parents, mental health professionals, teachers, and caregivers the keys to understanding how to promote mental wellness and resolve psychosocial problems in people with Down syndrome. This book is written by the founding directors of the Adult Down Syndrome Center of Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois. The authors draw on nearly 30 years of combined experience, treating more than 3000 adolescents and adults with Down syndrome aged 12 to 83. This book clarifies what the common behavioral characteristics of Down syndrome are, how some could be mistaken for mental illness, and what bona fide mental health problems occur more commonly in people with Down syndrome.