When Heather was an infant, Idaho state paid for an early
interventionist to visit, teach me how to teach her, and check on our progress.
Much of what she taught me I was already doing: playing with her, talking to
her, reading to her. One new concept she introduced was that babies won’t
demonstrate a new skill if they feel they’re under scrutiny. The woman chatted
with me, her face pointed my way, while watching Heather out of the corner of
her eye. She told me she once worked with disabled twins who lived on a nearby
reservation. The twins exhibited no language skills until their older sister
passed away. It seems the sister had been intervening on their behalf, telling
everyone what the twins wanted or needed. While she was there, they hadn’t
needed to learn to speak. It’s been three and a half decades, but I still ask
myself if I’m helping Heather or holding her back.
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