Recent research by Singleton (2018) asserts that the “wait and see” approach for children’s speech and language development is outdated and a risky way to approach atypical developmental patterns.
They explain that a wait and see approach delays further important referrals and that in fact late talkers do not catch up to their peers in all areas of development e.g. school readiness and social skills.
Furthermore, Singleton (2018) reports that over 80% of toddlers who failed language screenings at 30 months were not recovered by age 6 and often these children acquire a diagnosis of language delay in preparatory school.
Early intervention is key to taking advantage of the plasticity of young children’s brains. It’s easier for children to acquire new information when they are not overwhelmed in other areas of their lives, i.e. before formal schooling begins. If your child is not learning to read when his peers are beginning to read to learn, the struggle to close the gap becomes even greater. Early intervention helps keep children on a path to making the most of their abilities and skills and allows them to reach their potentials.
Parents need to play an important role in early intervention to have significant effect on their child’s development. As a therapist often my greatest frustration is engaging a parent as an active participant, which is incompatible both with developmental theories on which early intervention is based, as well as the substantial number of opportunities parents have to influence children’s learning and development.
It is not my place to convince parents of the value of my services. It is my place to inform. If you are a defensive parent, in denial or “not worried” I can only offer you facts and respect whether you want to intervene or not.
Singleton, N.C. (2018). Late talkers: why the wait and see approach is outdated. Pediatric Clinics of North America,65(1), 13-29.
Comentários