Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy need reference -- dangers of inappropriate treatme

Ok, I missed the update, and I guess I should find that ref (I missed a message earlier in the thread, and only saw it now by luck! Anyway, I will find the ref for you CNN)

The harm caused was lower language scores at school age in treated versus untreated kids.

The update is: The letter worked, we received only gentle pushback, and on the first reply they allowed the delay, until we get the results, not even with a firm cut-date like in the contact letter. This is HUGELY more pleasant than when our referral for testing was delayed until we agreed to the treatment referral.

BIG sigh of relief.

And, honestly, I still suspect an expressive language disorder, possibly an apraxia. But that can't be diagnosed for a long time yet, and I don't want to rush stuff. All in good time.

Oh, and completely apart from the study on toddlers, I used to work with adults with acquired aphasia, and encountered many situations where we felt the person committed suicide or "lost the will to live" as it is said, due to the practice of 'making' them produce words and ignoring clear gestures or neglecting supported communication methods. I can't really think of a worse harm than that. Luckily the tide is changing on that front, and people are much more willing to "build communication ramps" rather than forcing people with aphasia to haul themselves up on their elbows...

Developmental conditions _are_ different, admittedly, but I think the lesson is valid.

That is great news and also very interesting re the treatment.

We saw a speechie with DD#3 when she was maybe 12 months old, I felt she seemed to have some sort of issue getting going with talking. She did, she was deaf from dirty great lumps of wax in her ears, now every time her diction devolves I go see the ENT who hoicks a rock out of her ear. Back then speechie laughed at me because her speech was technically so advanced for her age, but did none the less give the simplification advice. And we used that advice a little bit, when we felt like she was trying to mimic us and getting overwhelmed by the length and complexity of what we were saying (she repeats everything she hears verbatim almost to the point I have worried about echolalia). That judicious simplification when parental instinct said "She's trying to mimic and it's too hard, simplify". That was helpful, but there was no way we could have or would have gone for simplified speech ALL the time or with pushing really hard with single words.

DS1yr does sometimes need us to simplify our speech... but mostly we do that naturally because we react to the light in his eyes when he likes the way we're talking to him. And there are studies to show that parents tend to be very good judges of their children's receptive language needs, too.

I guess the thing is that one needs to meet the kid _where they are_ and sometimes the advice really is too one-size fits all... DSnow3 had a huge difference between his expressive/receptive language scores. I suspect the SLP he saw hadn't seen quite that before, and had no clue it mattered (though it seems to me it would be fairly clear to a thoughtful Speech Path). FWIW, the difference was substantially more than his age at the time

I think this is the right ref, but can't get the full text right this minute:
Whitehurst, G. J., & Fischel, J. E. (1994). Early developmental language delay: What, if anything, should a clinician do about it? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35, 613-648.


Ok, hope I didn't miss anything this time!

EDIT: DH thinks I got the wrong ref and it's Whitehurst 1994, a solo paper, no second author. Like I said, I can't get the full texts right now.

Mana: I don't know what we want until I know what he'd got

And the treatments we were offered when he was 19mos are standard, and considered "play based!" not at all extreme. In fact, the same advice was offered ("have some E, looks like candy") on a regular basis everytime we took him to a government sponsored center, even before he was a year old. In fact a few times I ended up having to whisper to him because they were so offended by my use of full sentences containing "advanced" grammar.

Don't forget, the "bubble" thing was when he was 19mos, and had 1 regular word. If his receptive language had MATCHED his expressive, that really would have been his level of comprehension.

Do any children develop their expressive and receptive language synchronously though? Genuine question?

Surely the receptive language of a perfectly normally developing child of 12-14 months would be far, far in advance of the expressive language of that same perfectly normally developing 12-24 month old? And surely that is to be encouraged through constantly exposing them to normal, fluent use of grammatically sound language?