Saturday 2 April 2016

Diagnosis—is it essential?



Parents are the first observers of any atypical behavior in their child such as delayed speech, delayed walking, clumsiness, poor feeding, and many more symptoms. In kindergarten or grade school, difficulties are observed in reading and writing abilities. Or simply there is a gut feeling that all is not well with their child. That probably begins their journey with medical examinations, internet searches, and exploring treatment options. 

And they either get puzzled when the child is not provided with a proper diagnosis,  or there is a sigh of relief that there is no diagnosis. Either way, the problem still remains as to why is the child displaying atypical behaviors or struggling in school. 

A qualified physiotherapist, occupational therapist, or a speech therapist would do a detailed assessment of the child in terms of assessing muscle tone, strength, flexibility, motor skills, sensory systems, balance, communication, language, visual-motor skills etc. to detect any deficits that would lead to difficulties that the child is experiencing. Therapy is targeted to reduce these identified difficulties and improve functional abilities. 

Rather than arguing about whether the child is diagnosed or not, getting the symptoms addressed is an option. And earlier the better, since issues can be treated at a better and faster rate until age 7 when the brain is most adaptable to learning.