Dear Dr. Bigman

Dear Dr. Bigman:

Thank you for taking the time to meet with my family last week. Unfortunately we decided not to pursue a relationship with you for several reasons. Though you came to us highly recommended, your performance fell short for several reasons:

While you greeted my speech delayed 4 year old son with initial warmth you very quickly buried your head in his file as you fired in his direction vague and disjointed questions: "Where do you go to school, what color is the truck you are holding, what color is an apple?" While you were evaluating him for proper eye contact you repeatedly failed to look at him, your eyes glued to his thick pile of previous evaluations. These evaluations had been in your possession for a month already.

You went to find my son Lego's when he indicated a desire to play with them. As soon as he became engaged you asked us to put them away so that you could administer parts of a test your associate gave to him little over a year ago. My son objected and with my request you allowed him to play a few more minutes. "Is that a castle?" you asked as he added blocks to his structure. Without waiting for a response you went back to his files. Perhaps you might have noticed in the files that my son did very well on the test you were about to give him, but alas you did not.

After successfully prying my son from his Lego project, a complex project involving many colors and sizes, you administered parts of this very same test. You asked him to place a very large triangle, square and circle in three spaces both upside down and right side up. You were careful to remind us "not to coach."

Did you notice, Doctor, that when my son was "preoccupied," as you wrote in the margin of your score card, with the clock, that he displayed great motor planning and intelligence in dragging a chair across the room so that he could reach the wall clock and that he carefully took it off the wall to see it close up? Did you notice, Doctor, how carefully my son placed it back on the wall without protest when you asked him to do so? Maybe you might have asked him what time it was or what time he eats dinner or goes to school or bed, but perhaps contextual questions would be too easy and might mask the mental retardation you were able to diagnose after only thirty minutes with my son. In any case, we thank you for your time and concern that the Speech Impaired label my son carries might open him up to frustration if expectations of him are too high. Furthermore, we appreciate your foresight and pessimism in predicting the behavior problems that are likely to develop as this frustration sets in.

Best wishes for your continued success,

Diane Linder