Sara: Early isolation

Sara is 10 years old and from a bilingual family. English is not her first language, but she has
difficulty in both languages. According to her parents, she makes the same unusual
grammatical errors in both languages. Her language development is atypical and she has
difficulty using he/she and other pronouns in the right place.

She has no friends and prefers to play with younger children.

She struggles in school; having already repeated first class, she is now in third class. When
asked a question she will give a very strange answer. Her teacher often wonders if she
hears the question at all. Sara is able to repeat questions the teacher asks but cannot give a
logical answer or an answer her teacher can make sense of. The children in the class tease
her, call her a 'space cadet' and ask her what planet she is from.

She has been attending a speech and language therapist for a number of years and there is
a possibility of placement in a language class. She is reported to be making good progress
in therapy. Her parents are both artists and Sara has a wonderful flair for art.

She is an only child and her parents do not really acknowledge the extent of her difficulties.
They excuse her on the basis that she is mostly around adults and is bilingual. She is very
affectionate and sat on her father's knee during the interview, which was slightly
inappropriate given her age. Her teacher is concerned about her academic work, which is
way below the standard in the class, her inability to mix socially, her low self-esteem and her
difficulty in following the class instruction.