When do they stop saying this and admit, test and find ways to help a near 4 year old that is not talking, can’t focus more than 2 minutes.
The ped. says..just slow dev. he will catch up.
The behavioralist said.. “Adult Inferiority Complex”, put him in day care and peer pressure will get him talking and acting more within his range. (This resulted in biting and random roaming & playing in corners alone). He was put in a 2 year old room because he can’t communicate and hasn’t been able to be potty trained.
Children’s Hospital sent therapist to the home for a year for speech and physcial therapy…with very little progess if any.
3 day care centers in 6 months, released from 2 for biting and the last one in 2 days for his constant movements and explorations that disrupted the class of 14 - 2year olds. (They all were told upfront he had delays and the parents were very open to any help suggestions, agencies, programs that would help).
Why wouldn’t any of the 4 doctors overseeing him, see and admit and test, evaluate..do something?
This is my grandson, I am an Early Childhood Educator. I have helped and reffered children with a lot less delays and been able to get them into programs. I am in Chicago area, my gr-son is in Richmond Va. Why doesn’t anyone care????
We keep seeing and hearing..there is help out there…there are resources……..Where are they? How do you get into them….How do you get them to listen and show the parents how to help…or for goodness sake help this child?
Can you tell I am ticked frustrated and feeling like my gr-child is not within the politically correct grouping to be helped?
Is it because they can’t get him “labeled”? No one seems willing to diagnose him with anything..just keep passing him from this one to that one for 2 years now.
The 2 day care centers..did have a county agency come in and evaluate him….for their benefit to release him from care..not to get him help. That is what infuriates me the most!
Anyone ever been so frustrated and felt this way?
Re: He will catch up
He needs a full neuro-psychological evaluation. Do the parents have health insurance? If so, they should call their insurance company, explain they need to get a neuro-psych eval, and ask how to go about doing it. They should take that information to their doctor (if they need a referral). If the doctor doesn’t refer, then they should find another doctor who will. Their regular doctor sounds incompetent.
If they cannot get a full neuro-psych, at the very least they should get a complete speech and language evaluation by a speech pathologist. They should first find a good speech pathologist and then call that clinic to describe the child and ask about an evaluation. Most clinics deal with insurance companies all the time and can tell them *exactly* how a referral needs to be worded or coded. They should then take this information to their regular doctor to get the referral. If the doctor doesn’t refer, they should change to a doctor who will.
There are huge differences in quality among doctors. There are those who made A’s in courses and are dedicated to helping people, and there are those who barely passed with C’s and are dedicated to keeping their jobs and/or building their businesses. Too many people think doctors are similar in quality to each other. They aren’t, and you have to seek out the best ones. (Other people’s recommendations are one of the better indicators, especially if they have dealt with similar problems.)
There are ways to “work the system” in terms of school, county services, etc. Online research can sometimes yield very valuable information in this area. However, as a general rule, it’s best not to rely totally on these for diagnosis and remediation, as their mandates are to provide everything at *minimum* levels. Private evaluations and private remediation tend to be much, much better. Even with private services, however, it is really up to the parents (or a grandparent) to research diagnoses, approaches, and remediation strategies on the internet. Professionals are very narrowly focused on their own specialty and can make very biased recommendations. Parents know the child as a whole and, armed with information, can make better choices about which remediation strategies are likely to help their particular child. This conserves resources.
If the parents don’t currently have medical insurance, they should actively seek it out. Worst case, someone should Google resources in the state, websites that describe how to “work the system”, etc.
Nancy
Hi Nonnie,
This sadly sounds like the typical situation.
You might like to have a look at the Virginia Learning Disabilities Association, which can be helpful.
http://www.ldavirginia.org/
Geoff,