normal


All I do is write, but not here. This evening I cranked out about 18 pages worth of evaluations. That is single spaced technical reporting. My hands are numb.

I've been spending a little time thinking about what I am choosing to write lately and what I am not choosing to write. There is a story I needed to record - and I will only put the snippet here for memory-jogging purposes, but there was so much behind it.

I have been considering the nature of disability, particularly as it relates to children. It is hard to be disabled as a child because so many people do so many things for you ANYWAY. The standards are just not the same as with adults.

Example: if an adult has a stroke and can't dress themselves, they are considered disabled. If a child has a stroke and can't dress themselves, the parent provides care. Because children are children, and because parents do what they do, the concept of disability is different with kids.

Hmmm.

Well a parent asked me an interesting question the other day. She brought her child to me, asking me for help in determining the nature of the problem for her daughter who was failing in school - except that the school is just pushing her through to the next grade. The child has severe social problems and has some severe perceptual difficulties, but you wouldn't know this by reading the school reports that indicate there is no problem. Mom asked me, "Maybe there really is nothing wrong. Is that possible? Maybe she really is just fine?"

I thought for a moment and I considered the thousand or so kids who had similar problems but whose parents don't do anything. I also considered the kids in inner city areas where there are no resources and no advocates to see that any programs are developed. I also considered the kids in the 1900s who couldn't learn so they dropped out of school and went to work in the factories.

There is a normative curve of function to consider. Someone has to be low average, or even below average. This is dictated by simple statistics.

This leads to the real answer: Your child is only as disabled as they are unable to reach toward your greater aspirations for them, assuming that those aspirations fall at least minimally within the realm of reasonable expectations.

Is this an accurate statement?

Comments

Anonymous said…
My 9 year old daughter came home from school yesterday crying and begging me to homeschool her. She stated that she never wanted to go back to third grade - or 4th either! She went this morning as a favor to her mother. It was the right thing to do. After all, I said, "please."
She has high ability, and low performance, according the IOWA/CoCAT scores. Does she have a learning disability? I don't know. Her teacher thinks she's lazy. I think there more to it than that, but I'm not sure if defining her as 'disabled' will benefit her in ANY way. Maybe she's just fine, but is not the type of person who will thrive in an educational setting. Or maybe she's lazy...
I don't know...
Putting her on the bus this morning made me cry.
Julie
2:14 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On retained primitive reflexes

Each year I receive several emails from colleagues about 'retained primitive reflexes.'  I am also seeing an increased number of reports from local 'health care' providers who are documenting these alleged problems so I thought I would write a summary of my opinion on this topic.   Predatory 'health care' providers including some OTs, PTs, chiropractors, and behavioral optometrists are creating a new 'market' for treating this alleged 'problem.'  Parents should be very wary of these practitioners and other professionals should challenge these practices whenever they are seen. The following is the kind of information that causes concern and was provided to me by a colleague as a sample from a student's IEP: The student continues to demonstrate the following retained primitive reflexes that at times interfere with his ability to demonstrate appropriate adaptive responses: Fear Paralysis Reflex, Moro Reflex, Palmer Reflex, Tonic Labyri
Read more

Deconstructing the myth of clothing sensitivity as a 'sensory processing disorder'

Please note first that there is no formally recognized clinical designation of  'sensory processing disorder.'   It is a term constructed by occupational therapists that has not been formally recognized by the larger medical community. In our clinic we receive many referrals from local pediatricians when parents have concerns about children being overly sensitive to their clothing.  Most often the children referred are from four to seven years old and the families are severely disrupted by the children's behaviors and responses to clothing issues.  Commonly, children will have severely constricted tolerance for certain outfits, want to wear the same clothes repeatedly, complain that clothing is itchy/scratch/bumpy/wiggly/ouchie, and this all leads to disruption of daily dressing routines.  There is no doubt that the behavioral concerns are very real. The pediatricians tend to be appropriately conservative and provide families with good behavioral management suggestions
Read more

A Critical Appraisal of Therapeutic Listening

Image
History: According to Frick (2002, p. 358), auditory training has been used in Europe since the mid-1900s to address sensory processing disorders and these techniques have been recently popularized in the United States. Frick has based her Therapeutic Listening program on the work of Dr. Alfred Tomatis and Dr. Guy Berard, both of whom are French physicians. Both the Tomatis and Berard programs are delivered by specific machines using earphones but these devices do not have FDA approval and have been banned in the United States (Barrett, 2003). Frick (2001) states “With the advent of new technology, similar altered music has become available on compact disc. The discs do not replace either the Tomatis Method or the Berard Method. The compact discs do provide a less intense way to access both the auditory and vestibular systems to impact neural function and integration and are easily available to clinicians in a variety of practice arenas.” The CDs referenced on Frick’s webpages are ass
Read more