Part of the problem is assuming that if your child is "different" then he has an illness and needs therapy. If there's a physical ailment such as hearing loss or nerve or neurological damage that's one thing. But if he's just not normal then that's not an illness just a difference.
“Part of the problem is assuming that if your child is “different” then he has an illness and needs therapy.”
I guess it depends on what he/she is doing to make the parent think they’re “different”.
Speech delay may not be a problem - or it could be.
That’s why it’s good to take them to a doctor for evaluation.
So - what type of behavior is making the parents wonder, and how severe is it?
I don’t believe most parents “want” their child to be diagnosed with anything.
We didn’t take our son for testing for a long time because I assumed that he (like his older brother) would start speaking when he was darn ready.
But when he did start - it was incoherent.
There were quirky behaviors too that, like you say, were “different”.
For awhile there was flapping of the hands - very common with autism. He couldn’t handle noisy situations - drove him bonkers. Some behavior was ritualistic.
So - because some of the behaviors can be commonly associated with autism, our doctor ordered the testing.
We were pleasantly surprised when the testing pointed to something else.
Isn’t that what parents are supposed to do?
Try to help their children?