By Lynn Vigo with Blanca Fields
In our last blog, we mentioned families who might “suffer in silence” for various reasons without getting help. Some reasons for this may be cultural in nature. In my role as a family therapist, I sometimes hear families say that in their culture, there is no word for autism, and that any kind of special need is considered a blemish on the family. Some tell me that it is customary to keep challenges within the family or cultural community, never discussing them outside of these boundaries. Some families don’t take the diagnosis seriously and seem to think that their child will outgrow the challenges that autism presents.
In our desire to better understand how providers can be more helpful to families, we asked Seattle Children’s Patient Navigators for their input and were able to interview Blanca Fields about her work with Latino families who have Read full post »