Someone recently made an ignorant statement about children being speech delayed because of lack of parental communication. First off let me say that a child with a speech delay is NOT always a product of neglectful parenting.
As the mother of a speech delayed child, I have worked countless hours with my son on his speech and I resent that comment. That was an ignorant blanket statement made by a very immature and ignorant person.
I'm sure a small percentage of speech delayed children is attributed to bad parenting but NOT the majority of it. I do not get offended very easily but that statement seriously offended not only myself, but my husband and a host of family and friends.
This statement was made by someone who has never experienced first hand what it's like to have a special needs child or a child who has delayed speech. I'm sure if one of her children were speech delayed she wouldn't be so quick to place blame on the parents.
Statements like that sicken me because it just goes to show how ignorant and thoughtless people can be when it comes to special needs CHILDREN. It saddens and angers me for not only myself but for the countless other parents out there who struggle with a speech delayed child.
This lady obviously doesn't know what it's like to not be able to hear her child say, "I love you" or say, "momma" or "daddy". I hope as a mother she doesn't have to experience that. Maybe she needs to spend some time with a special needs child to get a better understanding of what it's like for that child and their parents. Maybe then she can be truly thankful that her son doesn't have any sort of issues. Who is to say that the child is carrying now won't be speech delayed or have autism. For that child's sake I hope it doesn't.
It's obvious that this person lives with the attitude that it can't happen to one of her kids.
Truth is, Autism, speech delay, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and countless other disorders can happen to ANY CHILD. It's not discriminatory and no child is immune. Maybe this person needs to think about that before they make ignorant statements.
No child deserves to be speech delayed and no parent who has done everything in their power to help that child should have a finger pointed at them and told it was from lack of communicating with their child. That is just absurd and asinine, and it shows you how selfish and ignorant some people really are.
My husband and I have done everything to help our son and because of that he is no longer speech delayed. There are words that he still has trouble with it, but we work on those words with him. His speech delay is due to AUTISM NOT parental neglect.
While this person wants to point fingers at the parents of speech delayed children maybe she needs to take a look at her own parenting.
It's not good parenting to let your child who isn't even a year old play on the staircase and not watch them. That child fell all the way down the stairs and thankfully wasn't seriously hurt. That child could have very easily hit his head and become brain damaged. Even worse he could have broken his neck. How would she have handled that?
If you want to point your finger at the parents of speech delayed children and blame them for that child's delay then maybe you need to look at yourself and your neglectful parenting skills. You may find that you aren't mother of the year like you think you are and that maybe you should consider keeping ignorant statements to yourself.
You never know when it may be YOUR child who needs that extra help.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Speech Delay
Posted by Momma Jones at Thursday, November 11, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
The audacity of her to make such a statement.
I do not have a speech delayed child nor a child on the spectrum. With that being said, I am a teacher and I have two students in my class who have special needs. One has ADHD and Aspergers and the other one hasn't been diagnosed but I'm pretty sure she's high functioning like your son. The parents of those two students are very much involved with their children and their schooling. In no way could I ever imagine blaming the parents.
Speech delays CAN be a product of poor parenting but not typically. As you said before, that was a blanket statement that definitely needs to be retracted.
Don't let it get to you. Sadly it's just an ignorant statement made from and obviously ignorant woman.
Christi
Dude, I love your little boy (and girl too), not to mention you are pretty cool. I enjoy your blog and only to better understand autism. I am blessed that isn't one of life for Will. Though I wonder since Will never shuts up is that my fault? She musn't realize kids are all different. Develop, grow, eat, learn, draw, walk, all of it is different for each kid and family who did or didn't teach then right or wrong.
So what does poster think you should do? How should you raise him? How would she? You mentioned she has at least one child who apparently has to wear that heavy crown around all the time since he's perfect. But you said you hope one of her kids don't have it or more hurtful, her grandchild.
Honey, you got good friends, one enemy cannot change that. Does she not have anything better to do than read your blog, that I enjoy, and didn't her MOTHER teach her if you don't have anything good to say, then say nothing?
Ugh, people like her annoy me, there's plenty of people who do bad things (criminal things) she need to go bitch at them and leave you (and all who love you and Sammy) alone.
Love and Support till the end friend! Ang
You ladies are wonderful : )
I'm just thankful that this woman couldn't handle the burden of being a teacher and quit. Someone like her does NOT need to be teaching our children. I'm just sad that she will be teaching her ignorance to her own children.
You would think someone who was once a teacher (for only a year) would understand about children who have special needs. Instead she wants to point her finger at the parents. She has a very ignorant and skewed way of thinking. I hope she never has to experience a special needs child. I don't know that her child would get the help it would require.
She seems to live in some sort of false reality. She wants everything to be like the old days when people use to sew their own clothes and cook everything from scratch. That's the kind of lifestyle she is trying to achieve but modern day things seem to be hindering that. We all know she is not 100% there mentally but for some reason she has targeted me and my family and has been very critical and judgmental of us. I've quit one blog and moved another in hopes she would stop. I figured she couldn't possibly have anything to say about my autism blog and special needs children but I guess I was wrong.
I hope she gets some help because what she is doing isn't normal and it's been going on for TWO years now.
I just can't believe that someone would blame the parents for a child's speech delay.
Just know that YOU are doing right by YOUR son. It doesn't sound like this other woman is doing right by hers.
She's the one who will ultimately pay for her ignorance. Sadly if she has more children then that increases her chances greatly of having a special needs child. I can only hope that she would be half the mother to that child that you are to yours.
You are a beautiful woman who has done amazing things with your son and you should be proud of that.
Just try to ignore the stupid people and their idiotic statements.
Post a Comment