Zero Emotion

[daycare]

earlier I posted about one of my DCks that is about to turn two and has zero speech.

The more that I am focusing on this child, the more red flags I am seeing. I notice that the child shows ZERO emotion. Zero when we are laughing or excited, zero when we tickle, zero when she is told NO, zero all the time. I have asked the other kids to react calmly with her, not too loud or over whelming, but it does not matter, it's always zero. I have only ever seen her cry one time and it was because I was telling her dad something she did that day. It was a bad report. I felt bad.

Also, there is no physical body language either. If I asked do you want a cookie or do you want to go outside, something that the child can shake head yes or no, I get ZERO just dead look on face.

When I talked to the parents about her zero speech,they were very concerned and upset. They thanked me over and over again for taking the time and courage to talk to them about it. but they don't seem to want to do anything about it.

I told them not to freak out, that I am not a doctor, I can only make observations and they needed to decide what they wanted to do. I did tell them I felt it was in her best interest that they get her to the doctor, express the concerns that I have as well as their own and at least start with that.

Of course now that she is almost 2, they want to potty train....I feel sad to have to tell them NO because she can't communicate with us at all.

I have two other kids that have aspergers, but even they will use body language to communicate with us. One of them has no ability to speak, the other does.

If the parents are not on board, does anyone have ideas what I can do here to try and communicate better with this child.

By the way, signing and picture cards have not worked at all. We also are asking tons of open ended questions waiting for her to respond, but of course we don't get anything back in return.

I am feeling down and failed. I am out of my bag of tricks, what are yours.

[dalman]

I would want them to take her in and have her hearing tested. I would think that all of these concerns should be addressed at her two year appointment. I would also ask their permission to have the county come in and do an assessment. I don't know if you state has that service but you could ask your licensor. It very frustrating when you try to address issues that you are seeing and the parents seem to take no action. They are more than likely in denial and fearful that something serious could be wrong. They see the same things you see, but they can't deal with it. Keep bringing it up. Advocate for the child. If there is something wrong, the sooner she gets help, the better the results can potentially be. Hang in there.

[Luvnmykidz]

I had a child like you described when I taught preschool in a special needs daycare. We used board maker pictures and utilized our lending library for a device that pictures could be velcroed to. This device allowed us to record our voice for the pictures. It's called a VOCA- voice output communication aid. After training the children with jelly bean switches we trained them to use the machine. It really helped with communication. For my dd I used PECS but she is very verbal now and no longer needs it. I'm not sure if your area has a lending library where you can rent assistive technology devices free of charge for providers and parents. I lived in NC at the time and the lending library was so neat and easy to use. We would renew our items once a month until we either no longer needed it or insurance purchased a similar item.

[preschoolteacher]

Yikes, they want to potty training a non-verbal almost two year old? They need to help her with much more important issues first.

Now, I know you said they told you she doesn't speak at home. Is she emotionless at home? I had a very, very, very shy 3 year old here who would be blank-face all the time, no expression, until her parents arrived. Then she was a bouncy little chatterbox (I saw it with my own eyes), and talked at home about all the fun stuff we did here although she rarely spoke to anyone and often did not participate. I felt sad for her. By the end of her time here, she started opening up a little bit. They moved on because I was downsizing. She was an AP kid, by the way.

Does she play? Run around? Make any sound?

I'd print off some more info and talk to them again. Are you comfortable saying something like, "I do have concerns about Sally' development. In order to provide her with the care that will help her do best, I really must ask that you get an assessment. Let's schedule a meeting together after her appointment. How about in three weeks (set a date)?"

If you apply a little pressure, they may get going.

I'd terminate services if I had a child who was clearly dealing with special needs and the parents refused to bring them in to a doctor. That may just be me, but I couldn't work with parents who were that unwilling.

[Sunchimes]

The lack of response sounds like my child with sensory processing disorder. After a year of doing intense therapy with him, he sometimes cries when he is hurt or pushes back wnen someone takes his toy. He is non-verbal and has almost no receptive language, so when you ask if he wants to go outside, he has no idea what you are saying. The therapist said that to him, my words sound like the adults on the Charlie Brown TV specials.

You might gather some info on the early childhood program for them. A lot of parents don't know where to look for help, or think that it is too expensive and out of reach, but it isn't. You pay on a sliding scale. I once had a family that paid $6 a month for some pretty intense therapy. I'll be happy to help you find the ECI info if you want.

[daycare]

thank you all so much for the ideas.

as for playing, she does run around and try to chase kids or run after the ball, sand play water play, but always alone.

she will not try to reach out to us for help ever and will not try to talk or respond in any way.

I am going to look into the devices you all suggested as well as talk to my LIC to see if they have any programs that could assist her.

I know it must be hard to have someone tell your that their child is different,. but it just kills me that they don't want to do anything about it. Being that I spend a lot of time with this child and love this child, I need to know that I tried to help.

I will look into the library here and see what they have to offer.

again thank you all for responding, I hope that I can make some progress with her soon.

[KiddieCahoots]

I have a child now that fits that description. He is going for a hearing test this week, and Early Intervention will be working with him soon. I hate to say it, but suspect some form of Autism.

Don't know what resources you have in your area, but one time when I called EI to discuss the same thing your saying, (parents that were in denial over an issue with their child), EI informed me that I could give them the parent information, and they would call the parents themselves to try and get the parents on board for the evaluation. The only thing that bothered me about that, was if the parents got angry at me for going around them and contacting EI myself.