Special Needs Ninos Hispanos

There was an article recently about Latino special needs kids having late diagnosis or getting help later than caucasians. Here's my theory on why our kids get diagnosed later- they ask their families. Do you know what happens when you ask your Spanish family for their opinion? Everyone knows, everyone has an opinion and theory.

5 things can happen: 1) Norma's aunt's niece's youngest cousin was like that and now he's 30 and married and working and he's normal. 2) He's just a baby, all babies do that. Forget the fact that the baby in question is 10. 3) Just give him some yerba buena or te de tilo. (or whatever herbal remedy is really big in your Spanish fam.) 4) You need to go to church more often, we'll start a prayer chain. Someone must've given you the evil eye. He should wear something red. 5) There's nothing wrong with him. He's my boy and nothing can be wrong with him. (Machismo is alive and doing very well thank you!) I kid you not- all of these are personal experience. Ok slightly exaggerated, but not by much.

But if you look at all of these excuses individually, you realize that the denial is very typical and completely normal. Who the heck wants their kid to be diagnosed with anything? And when we run to our family for their opinion, whether we choose to admit it or not, we are seeking reassurance. And yes, we even want to be lied to and will grasp these herabl remedies, long lost relatives of years ago, participate in the prayer chain, agree that your 10 year old baby is perfectly fine. All parents go through this phase. Some Latino parents live in denial for years-- thus the later diagnosis. Other Latino parents simply don't know where to ask for help or to fight to get services. They chose to live in ignorance of what ASD is. Don't believe me? Here's my proof-

My mom's friend has a grandson who's about the same age as JD, 3ish going on 4. Grandmom is worried about her grandson. Grandmom is the caregiver during daytime. He has trouble transitioning, aggressive/anger issues, doesn't respond to his name at times, sometimes doesn't seem present or engaged. I'm no expert, but as a mom- that would be reason enough for me to consult an expert. Instead his mom feels he's perfectly normal and all kids act like this. I'd like her to define "normal" for me and for her to explain how a 3 year old apparently zoning out during a visit is "normal."

Another story- a 10 year old acting out in ways expected of a much younger child in order to get attention, deliberate destruction of blanket or throw. I'd be running with my child to the nearest psychologist for an evaluation. What 10 year old willfully destroys something? A little anger?

Somebody else's friends kid is 4 and is just now going to get a Speech evaluation. What part of missed speech milestones did you not understand dear parent? And on what part of the planet is a 3 year old with no speech or willingness to speak normal development? We took JD for a speech eval just shy of 3 because we had a loss of skills around 2 and 1/2 years and it coincided with when I had the twins. We opted to wait until 3 so that we could go right to preschool intervention program since it takes a couple of months to start up the services.

Is it ignorance, denial, laziness, love that causes the late diagnosis in the Latino community? I don't know. I do know that it doesn't surprise me. I bet you those parents are waiting for their kids to outgrow this stage- which is classic denial. We need to increase awareness on ASD and other developmental delays, other special needs- in all ethnicities. Greater awareness is never a bad thing.