Fourteen years ago Colton came into my life.
Colton and his family are the very first family of my journey into self-employment and self-discovery, Family First of Greater Pittsburgh.
publicsource.org/meet-colton-a-…
Colton and his family are the very first family of my journey into self-employment and self-discovery, Family First of Greater Pittsburgh.
publicsource.org/meet-colton-a-…
Colton, along with nearly EVERY individual I've served over the past several decades, has taught me countless invaluable life lessons and brought me unconditional, overwhelming love.
I want to focus on just one piece here, the ethics of prognosis.
I want to focus on just one piece here, the ethics of prognosis.
You see, speech and language pathology is a human behavioral science founded, falsely I'd argue, in the western medical model. As I've written extensively in the past, this can be summed up with the phrase, "You are broken and I will fix you."
On that foundation of pathology sits the concept of prognosis. That is, predicting the outcome of an individual's development, behavior, even quality of life based upon standardized assessment, collected samples of other people, & the past progress of the targeted individual.
We attempt to predict the future, including the far future, based upon recent progress and standardized comparisons of small, unrepresentative samples.
Colton's prognosis, at 4, based upon every bit of knowledge and training I'd received, would have been quite poor.
Colton's prognosis, at 4, based upon every bit of knowledge and training I'd received, would have been quite poor.
Please note that the decisions of medical and health related professionals, the insurance industry, and many school-based systems are based explicitly on the prognostic opinions of professionals.
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If we predict a child will not succeed or progress based upon standardized data comparisons and recent progress (…again, at the age of 3-4…) we then treat them accordingly, reduce and limit services and experiences to the point where they ultimately BECOME the prognosis.
(And we so often gaslight families along the way. Utilizing our expertise to demean and overrule them, communicate our knowledge of everything that is best for them and their children.)
Colton's parents and family consistently and intensely fought this systemic tendency, and fortunately I was an open enough professional with just enough skepticism of the medical model to learn the lessons THEY taught and showed me and others.
And today?
And today?
Colton is 18, holding down two jobs, preparing for college, independently navigating the world, bringing sheer awesomeness to every person and place he graces with his presence, and obliterating every limiting prediction made by every professional along the way.
