The Power of Presuming Competence

3-Minute Read

Let’s talk about presuming competence. And how it can affect the quality of your child’s treatment.

The way a professional views a client shapes everything: the goals they write, the support they offer, and the expectations they set. It’s up to the professional’s clinical opinion and expertise as to how much support the student needs and at what percentage to give the student to achieve the goal.

When a therapist writes goals, they rely partly on baseline data collected at the start of treatment. But much of it also comes down to clinical judgment, what they believe the child is capable of, and where they think the child should begin.

This is why it’s so important to presume competence.

Presuming competence means assuming that your child understands. That they are capable. That they are aware, intelligent, and deserving of the same respect and expectations you would have for a neurotypical peer.

When we don’t presume competence, we risk writing goals that are far too basic, offering unnecessary support, or worse, ignoring the child’s potential altogether. It sends a message, whether we mean to or not: “I don’t think you can do this.”

But when we do presume competence, we open the door to meaningful progress. We show respect. We give our students a chance to achieve.

Here are some don’t dos:

• Talk about your non-speaking students around them.
  They hear you. They understand you. Imagine how it would feel to have people talking about you in the third person while you're right there. It’s dehumanizing. Speak to them, not about them, no matter what communication style they use.

• Infantilize them by using baby talk or assuming they can’t participate in age-appropriate activities.
  Your tone, your expectations, and your approach should reflect their ability and respect their autonomy.

• Make assumptions about their intelligence based on how they speak, move, or behave.
  Behavior is communication. Struggles with motor skills, regulation, or expression do not equal a lack of comprehension or intelligence. When you assume someone isn’t capable, you set their goals and your expectations far too low.

Here are some can-dos:

• Talk to your student, always, even if they don’t respond in the way you expect.

• Offer access to robust communication tools from the very beginning.

• Set ambitious but appropriate goals that reflect a belief in your student's potential.

• Be open to being surprised. Again and again.

When professionals and caregivers presume competence, they create a different kind of learning environment, one rooted in respect, dignity, and possibility.

It changes how goals are written. It changes how progress is measured. And most importantly, it changes how a child is seen.

Because every child, speaking or non-speaking, using AAC or not, deserves to be treated as competent, capable, and worthy of high expectations.

And that shift starts with us.

~Chloe