You’ve done an excellent job of summing this up, Kate! It really is all about how we present the information and respond to the parent’s questions and statement. Just because a parent says he or she doesn’t know what the child should be doing and seems to want to rely on the “experts” doesn’t mean that he/she has given us permission to take over. I really appreciate the idea of anchoring the goals in the information the family shares. Thanks for enriching this blog post!

Excellent point, Belkis. You’re right, there are things we can do to keep this from happening. I love your point about really listening from the beginning. I absolutely think that parents “give” us the goals by sharing their priorities. We often have to help by asking good questions and guiding the discussion back to those priorities because the outcomes are there.

I’m SO glad you caught that, Deidra! Yes, shifting the focus on isolated skills and domains to her engagement in everyday routines is key. I think it’s so important, critical really, to help families see how the developmental info learned during the assessment links to their everyday life and the child’s abilities. That’s how we create meaningful outcomes. Fantastic suggestion!

What questions you would ask Amada’s family to help them think about what they’d like her to do next in her daily routines?

Yes, Carol. That’s an important thing to remind parents of, from the beginning. Sometimes, after asking the questions you suggest, just waiting a few extra seconds to give parents time to think can be helpful too.