SLP Help Line: Explaining the receptive/expressive langauge ability balance to a parent

Explaining the receptive/expressive langauge ability balance to a parent

Posted by rebwrite on 11/5/2009, 8:05 pm
96.18.111.78

I have a student with Sanfillipo (sp?) syndrome which will result in language deterioration to the point that at some time this child will loose all abilty to talk.

The child's legal gaurdian does not want therapy to decrease despite the fact that the child's skills are so low I am only working on joint attention, pre-requisits to symbolic communication and picture/object exchange. In my opinion these goals are more of consultative goals than direct therapy.

Anyway her main argument is that she feels I don't know how much information is going into her child's brain and that the child understands much more than I know.

My opinion is unless you have an expressive language disorder, receptive and expressive language abilities parallel each other with receptive language being only slightly higher than receptive.

Is that the perception of this community?
How would you respond to this cargiver?

Thanks for any tips.