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Early Intervention Key in Language Development
By Jennifer Newton Reents
Loynd says PAT educators observe, listen, share information and gently guide parents to specialists or community resources when there is a concern.
"We also provide annual developmental screenings if the parents desire this," Loynd says.
One parent, Sue, whose name was changed to protect the identity of her child, noticed a change in her child when he was 18 months old.
"He stopped talking. He had had 10 words or so," says Sue, a St. Louis physician. "Then he stopped making good eye contact with us and it seemed hard to get his attention."
Sue, who already was involved with PAT, says at the time, she had just had another baby and her pediatrician said her son probably regressed in his development because of the arrival of the new baby and to wait it out.
"[The doctor] ... kind of blew me off," she says.
By the time her son, now 3, was 20 months old, her PAT parent educator recommended the child be evaluated for developmental delays. He was later diagnosed to be autistic, a syndrome where children often have the inability to relate or communicate and may have many language disturbances.
"I ended up getting him speech therapy and developmental therapy by the time he was 2 years old," says Sue.
She said she believes PAT was able to help her recognize that there was a problem because the parent educators work every day with children and are looking for specific developmental benchmarks at certain ages.
"It's just nice to have another pair of eyes look at them and say, 'Yeah this looks normal' or 'this doesn't look normal,'" Sue says. "Early intervention is the key. A lot of these kids can be normal but intervention needs to be early."
For a list of certified speech-language pathologists in your area, call ASHA's toll-free helpline at (800) 638-8255. For a Parents as Teachers program in your area, call the PAT National Center at (314) 432-4330 or visit www.patnc.org/findaprogram.asp.