Comments on: Will Mason Ever Walk?

By: ECSE 542 Weekly Blog: 9/1/14 | Natasha Dandles ECSE Blog

ECSE 542 Weekly Blog: 9/1/14 | Natasha Dandles ECSE Blog — Mon, 01 Sep 2014 19:08:00 +0000

[…] appreciate the sensitivity shown in the post “Will Mason Ever Walk?” in which the author tackles strategies to help answer difficult questions that parents may ask. My […]

By: Dana Childress, M.Ed.

Dana Childress, M.Ed. — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 22:18:37 +0000

In reply to Adele.

You captured what I was talking about the in blog post so well, Adele! Yes, acknowledging the parent’s feelings and “seeing” her son for how he is makes all the difference. I like how you softened the mention of using AT by clearly supporting their priority for his walking. So well done!

By: Adele

Adele — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 19:53:37 +0000

This rings so close to my week, as I just saw a little one Monday with a similar situation. The family’s concern was simply “his future! Will he ever walk?” All I could offer at the time was that it will always be our goal for him to walk, even if we have to introduce assistive technology. When writing goals, we kept them focused on activities and small steps toward the future. His mother’s anxiety seemed to soften as we talked and she appeared comforted to have someone listen to her concerns and really see her son!

By: Dana Childress, M.Ed.

Dana Childress, M.Ed. — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 19:07:07 +0000

In reply to Cori Hill.

Thanks Cori. I agree – it all ties back to thinking about development in the real world. I think most parents would say, yes I want my son to walk because walking is part of typical development and is what they are most familiar with. They might not know the other options that exist for mobility. Like with Mason’s dad, working on sitting also might not easily connect to walking for him so he might be thinking “but when are they going to work on walking??” It’s so important to make sure that the parent understands what’s happening during intervention and how it ties back to his priorities for his son.

By: Cori Hill

Cori Hill — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 18:59:40 +0000

Such great suggestions packed into this blog. Most importantly, as early interventionists it seems that much of this discussion could really tie to functional and contextualized outcomes. When this type of priority is explored more fully you often times find out that what is articulated as walking may be exactly the kinds of things Dana mentions such as being able to move himself from one place to the next.