Teachers and Parents of children with special needs?

Question

I am a preschool teacher who has many times had to talk to parents about concerns with their childs development and it is never an easy talk. This time I have an Indian family and their child seems to have a fairly severe form of Autism. I am not a doctor and I am not diagnosing this child, but I feel that it is very important for him to be assessed. I am becoming familiar with the cultural differences, but with these differences I am not sure how to approach this topic. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

The typical approach is to request a conference with the family. Explain that you asked to speak to the parents because you noticed differences in performance regarding their child vis-a-vis others. Acknowledge that you're not a physician, so you're not in a position to diagnose any issue. However, you believe that there might be a medical component to the situation. (Recognize that there might be--or at least the parents might believe that there is--a sociological/cultural component, too. Both you and the parents legitimately would benefit from determining whether there's a physical component, and to what extent. There could be both physical and cultural issues at play.)

Be prepared with some recommended "next steps" for the parents, if they wish to follow up on your suggestions and observations.

Hope that helps.