Debbie Downer

I decided to quickly share some not-so-funny or amusing feelings that I've been having over the last few days. It has to do with my work with children with special needs. What can I say? It can't always be rainbows, right? Sorry if you were looking for a light-hearted blog.

Honestly, one of the WORST parts of working with disabled children is when YOU know the child probably has a diagnosis and the PARENT has no idea.

It has happened many times over the past few years. Autism. Genetic disorders. Cerebral Palsy.

And it happened AGAIN today.

I've known for a month or two that this child is DELAYED. In Early Intervention, you qualify for services based on certain diagnoses, but most children qualify based on delays in development. There are so many pieces that don't add up with this baby.

But I've learned you never assume anything.

What looks like it could be one thing can be another. There's more than one reason a child may prefer to turn to one side, have trouble sitting up, or show a motor delay.

And so, YES, at first glance, this baby appeared to possibly have a neurological disorder. Tightness. Pulling to one side. Staring episodes. The works...

But then I can think of OTHER reasons that child may be doing what he's doing. And diagnoses are only helpful when they help explain behavior or give families resources. Assigning a child with a random diagnosis can be devastating to a family and not do much good. PLUS, just because I have a "feeling," doesn't mean it's right.

And today, I took an honest look and realized that I am ~90% sure this child has cerebral palsy...

It's my responsibility to somehow balance the need to be honest with the parent AND my job of meeting the parents where they are at. Meaning, sometimes these people are NOT READY. If you hit them with the bad news, BAM!!!...guess who's the bad guy? Not the cerebral palsy, but YOU...the physical therapist bearer of doomsday.

It can be difficult to utter those words parents don't want to hear. Two of the most scary tend to be "neurologist" and "genetic."

Some parents shut down at the word neurologist.

Like today.

One parent avoided the conversation completely by going on the computer. The other looked so SAD...and it just broke my heart.

I know this is part of the job. We're there...in people's homes, to tell the TRUTH. To help them through the whole process...diagnosis, coping...to offer a hug or a sympathetic ear. But it NEVER gets easier to tell someone there is something seriously wrong with their baby. 


But isn't that the whole point? We can't prevent cerebral palsy, autism, Down Syndrome...BUT we can be there to make life for these children more full, and help their families in any way possible.