Late-Talking Children: A Symptom or a Stage? by Stephen M. Camarata

Author:Stephen M. Camarata [Camarata, Stephen M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: language, child development, autism, education, late-talking
ISBN: 9780262319348
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 2014-09-05T00:00:00+00:00

6

Diagnosis and Dangers

With late-talking children in general, both the accuracy of the original diagnosis and the appropriateness of the treatment that follows are crucial. If you have questions or doubts about either, it is time to get a second or even a third opinion.

These second and third opinions should be completely independent of whoever gave the first opinion. That is, the other opinions should not be from the colleagues of whoever gave the first opinion, nor should the later opinions be from people who could be influenced by whoever gave the first opinion. The later opinions should also not be from someone who insists on knowing what the previous opinion was.

In my clinical work, I am willing to evaluate a child without knowing what anyone else’s evaluation has been, but that is not always true of other practitioners. You may have to do some searching to find someone who is both professionally qualified and willing to give a completely independent evaluation. But the stakes are high enough that the extra effort will certainly be justified.

When a parent questions my diagnosis of their child, I don’t try to convince them that I’m right, much less tell them that they’re “in denial.” I simply tell them my diagnosis and the reasons for it. When the facts force me to conclude that the child has some dire condition, I would be happy to be proved wrong, and I would hope that other practitioners would feel the same way. But all too often, parents tell me they have encountered condescension and have been accused of being in denial when daring to question the “experts.” Far from being infallible, many practitioners in this uncertain field have not only been mistaken, but dangerously wrong in what they have said and done regarding late-talking children.

One of these children was a three-year-old boy brought to our clinical research program from Switzerland, where he was being treated because his language development was slow. The treatment he was receiving in Geneva was normally used to teach children with severe autism to speak.1 My examination indicated that he did not have severe autism and was not a good candidate for this kind of treatment. In fact, he seemed like any number of late-talking children with specific language impairment I have examined or treated over the years: Unlike late-talking children with autism, he looks at other people when he speaks and what he says is reasonable, even though his spontaneous speech is immature, like that of a younger child, it is not robotic or deviant as is often seen in autism.

This little fellow is quite social when he is not being forced to talk. He speaks in one- or two-word phrases, while most children his age would be using at least three- or four-word phrases. But he shows no signs of having severe autism or intellectual disabilities. Nevertheless, for the year before he was brought to our clinical research program, he was treated in Switzerland using methods developed for children with autism.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.