Q&A #2: How do we help children who are falling behind without using milestones?
This QandA episode comes from a special education preschool teacher had listened to the Why We Shouldn\u2019t Read The Your X-Year-Old Child books anymore, and wondered: \n\n\n\n\nIf we don\u2019t use these kinds of \u2018milestones\u2019 as guidelines for our children\u2019s behavior, how will we identify children who need extra help? And what kind of help will we give them?\n\n\n\n\nMy first thought was: There\u2019s no way I\u2019m touching that question, because I don\u2019t have the relevant qualifications and I\u2019ll get torn apart.\n\n\n\n\nI\u2019ve been in some groups for Autistic parents for several months now, and one thing that\u2019s abundantly clear is that qualified professionals use \u2018treatments\u2019 for Autistic children that these now-grown up people describe as abuse (and believe me; I don\u2019t use that word lightly. It\u2019s a direct quote from many different people).\n\n\n\n\nSo if the qualified professionals are using methods that the people who have experienced them call abusive, I think I have a responsibility to at least offer thoughts for parents to consider as they\u2019re navigating the process of diagnosis and treatment.\n\n\n\n\nToo often, parents are pushed to take their child directly from diagnosis to treatment, as if we\u2019re missing some critical window of opportunity. But what if no treatment was sometimes the best option?\n\n\n\n\nI don\u2019t consider this episode to be The Final Word on What Parents Should Do. It\u2019s more of a conversation starter\u2026a way to raise some ideas that parents might not hear from the doctors who are pushing them toward treatment as fast as possible.