Myths About Child Therapy and Special Needs in Pakistan
Most of the myths about child therapy in Pakistan come down to one idea: that it is safer to wait and see. It usually is not. Waiting rarely gives you an answer, and the early years, when a child’s brain learns language and skills fastest, do not wait with you.
When you first sense your child might need extra help, the hardest part is often not your own heart. It is the voices around you. A khala, a neighbour, a well-meaning friend at a wedding, each with a saying ready. Here in Multan and right across Pakistan the same handful of beliefs come up again and again, so let us take them one at a time, gently and honestly. If you would like the wider picture afterwards, our guides for parents hub walks through development, red flags and support step by step.
The short version
- “He will talk when he is ready” is sometimes true, but nobody can tell which children it is true for.
- Asking for an assessment is not a diagnosis and not a label. It is information.
- Autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and speech delay are not caused by nazar, by anything you ate, or by anything you did.
- Therapy is teaching, not medicine. We support, assess and coach families; we do not cure, and we never promise an outcome.
Myth: “He will talk when he is ready.” Is it safe to wait?
Some late talkers do catch up without help, and no honest therapist will tell you otherwise. The problem is that nobody can tell you in advance which child yours is. Waiting six months only tells you what has already happened; an assessment tells you where your child stands now, and nothing is lost if the answer turns out to be reassuring.
This is why we are relaxed about parents coming to us “too early” and never relaxed about coming late. Checking has two possible endings, and both of them are better than watching the calendar.
If you are trying to judge whether your own worry counts, our guide on when to see a speech therapist lists the ages and signs that are worth a conversation.
Myth: “Therapy means something is wrong with my child”
Therapy is teaching, not treatment for an illness. A speech and language therapist teaches a child to communicate the way a maths tutor teaches long division: by breaking a skill into steps and practising it. Coming for therapy says nothing about your child’s worth, your parenting, or your family.
Nor is an assessment a diagnosis. Plenty of families leave a first appointment with no label at all, just a clearer picture and a plan for home. And a child who does turn out to need support is still exactly the child you brought in.
Myth: “It is nazar, or something we did”
Conditions such as autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and most speech and language delays begin in how a child’s brain or body develops. They are not caused by the evil eye, by a mother working or not working, by television alone, or by a family being punished. Nobody in your family is to blame.
Faith and therapy are not competing with each other. Families pray, keep their traditions and come to sessions, and we never ask anyone to choose. The only version of this belief that does harm is the one that replaces help rather than sitting alongside it — the taweez that is tried for two years while a child’s most learnable years pass.
Myth: “Log kya kahenge” — better to keep it quiet
The fear of what people will say pushes many families to hide a child’s difficulty, sometimes even from the doctor. That silence is heavy, and your child pays for it. In our experience, families who speak plainly find far more kindness than they expected, and a school that is told what a child needs usually behaves better, not worse.
- Hiding a difficulty delays help; it does not make it smaller.
- A child with additional needs is not becharay. He is a whole child with a profile of strengths and gaps, like everyone.
- You are allowed to be private with your neighbours and open with the people helping your child. Those are different things.
- The words you use at home become the words your child uses about himself. Choose them kindly.
Myth: “Therapy is only for severe cases”
Support is not rationed by severity. A mild speech delay, a stammer that only shows up when a child is excited, a five-year-old who cannot hold a pencil — these are exactly the situations where a short block of guidance goes furthest, because the gap is still small.
You also do not need a diagnosis, a referral or a hospital file before you ask a question. If you are wondering where your child stands right now, our online milestone checker takes a few minutes and gives you something concrete to bring to an appointment.
Myth: “He is just lazy at school”
“Parhai mein kamzor hai” is one of the most common things we hear, and it is rarely laziness. A child who reads slowly, flips letters or dreads reading aloud may be showing signs of dyslexia. A child who is genuinely slower to learn across every subject may have an intellectual disability, which needs teaching pitched differently rather than more scolding.
Effort is what a child gives you. Skill is what a child has been able to build. Punishing the first will not create the second.
Myth: “Therapy is just playing”
Parents who watch a session sometimes say it looks like play, and in a way that is the point — a young child learns through play, so that is where we work. What is happening underneath is deliberate.
- We set one target at a time, for example asking for something instead of pulling your hand, and count how often it happens.
- We build the situation that makes the skill necessary — the favourite toy in a clear box the child cannot open alone.
- We wait. Silence for five seconds after you offer something is the most-used tool in the room, and the one parents find hardest.
- We coach you, because you have hundreds of daily chances with your child and we have one or two hours a week.
A developmental assessment comes first, in plain words, and you get to see the plan. Speech and language therapy (گویائی کا علاج) is a course of work with review points, not something a child stays on forever.
Myth: “Therapy is not for families like ours”
Cost and distance are real worries, not myths, and they deserve a straight answer rather than a slogan. What varies between centres is the length of the session, who actually delivers it, whether the assessment is separate, and how much of the work is handed to you to do at home — and that last part is what changes results between visits. We have written openly about what you are paying for in speech therapy in Multan, and you are always welcome to ask us before you commit to anything.
What you can do tomorrow morning
None of this needs an appointment to start:
- Get down to your child’s eye level for the first ten minutes of the day. Face-to-face beats any toy.
- Say what he is looking at, rather than asking about it. “Doodh. Garam doodh.” is worth more than “What is this? Say doodh.”
- Count to five in your head after you offer something, and let him fill the gap however he can — a sound, a look, a point.
- Add one word to whatever he gives you. He says “car”, you say “red car”.
- Write down what you actually notice, with dates. Three lines a week is enough, and it makes any assessment far more useful.
When we will send you somewhere else first
Honest support includes knowing our limits. We will ask you to see a doctor before or alongside us if your child had words or skills and lost them, if there is any doubt at all about hearing, if there are fits or fainting episodes, if feeding or swallowing is unsafe, or if there is a medical question that belongs with a paediatrician. Those referrals are not a delay tactic. A hearing test in particular can change the whole picture, and no amount of speech work substitutes for it.
How we help families in Multan
Our centre on MPS Road, Block A Model Town, near Bloomfield Hall School, was founded by Mahnoor Baloch, Speech & Language Therapist. We work in Urdu and English, we explain everything in plain words, and there is no judgement in the room — most parents who walk in have already been told to wait by someone who loves them.
You know your child better than anyone, and asking a question is one of the most loving things you can do. Whatever else you hear, we are here Monday to Saturday, 10am to 7pm. Please contact us or WhatsApp +92 314 6040262 for a kind, confidential conversation whenever you feel ready.
Frequently asked questions
Does a speech or developmental delay mean my child is not intelligent?
No. How early a child talks is a poor guide to how clever that child is. Many bright children are slow in one area — talking, reading, handwriting — while everything else moves along normally. An assessment looks at each area separately, which is exactly why it is worth doing rather than guessing from one skill.
My mother-in-law says therapy will make my child dependent on it. Will it?
The aim is the opposite. Good therapy hands the work over to you and to your child as quickly as it can, and it is planned in blocks with review points rather than continuing forever. If a child is not making progress, that is a reason to change the plan or refer on — not a reason to keep booking sessions.
Can we carry on with dua and dam while my child is having therapy?
Yes, and we will never ask you to stop. Faith and therapy are not in competition, and most families we see do both. The only thing we would gently urge is not to wait years before adding practical support, because the early years are when new skills come most easily to a child.
Do I need a diagnosis or a doctor’s referral before bringing my child?
No. You can come with nothing more than a worry. Many parents arrive saying only that something feels different, and that is a perfectly good reason. If your child already has reports from a paediatrician, hearing test or hospital, bring them, because they save time — but nothing is required to ask a question.
Everyone tells me boys talk later than girls. Is that a reason to wait?
There is a small average difference between boys and girls, but it is far too small to explain a child who is well behind for his age. Being a boy does not make a delay safe to ignore. Judge your child against the milestones for his age, not against the family opinion that he will manage on his own.
Will what we tell you stay private?
Yes. What you share with us stays between your family and the team working with your child, and we do not pass information to a school or anyone else without your agreement. Many parents in Multan tell no one they are coming, and that is entirely your choice to make.
Do sessions happen in Urdu or only in English?
We work in Urdu and English, and we take our lead from the language your family actually uses at home. If a child hears mostly Urdu, that is the language we build first, because a child learns fastest in the language spoken around him. Mixing languages at home does not cause a delay.
