We know that a one-size-fits-all approach is all wrong, for many reasons. We also want our children to be treated like individuals, whatever their challenges and shortcomings. And that, no surprise, turns out to be the way to more effective care.

In the precision care model, a diagnosis – even when it is really helpful—is one way to understand the person.

The word ‘cancer’ itself was feared when we didn’t yet appreciate the specifics. As we know more, we stop using catch all labels that don’t tell us very much.

No one with a medical condition laughs off their diagnosis, because what it tells us is important. What we parents need to know from the day our children are diagnosed is how much it may not tell us about our child. As individualized care becomes the standard for everyone, we will get used to the idea that a diagnosis is just one piece of the puzzle, important but only part of what we need to know.

Some parents get concerned when they don’t have a diagnosis for their child. And some children do much better as soon as their challenges are connected to a particular cause or syndrome. But it is important to know that the label may not be very helpful. A diagnosis like ‘Pervasive Developmental Delay’ is still used and still uninformative. And of course parents who are told that their child is on the autism spectrum are often warned that this term is used with very, very different children.

No one with a medical condition laughs off their diagnosis, because what it tells us is important. But as individualized care becomes the standard for everyone, we will get used to the idea that a diagnosis is just one piece of the puzzle.

Precision care is based on the simple idea that understanding each person as an individual is vital, particularly when we are talking about children with diagnoses that are not always helpful.

Many, many parents would sleep better at night if they could just stop thinking about milestones and stop measuring and comparing their child’s progress with others. Of course, that is not a great idea because it is so important to get extra supports to children who need them as early as possible. That means it’s important to get children at risk tested, which brings us back to milestones and comparisons.

The precision care approach doesn’t make comparisons with others unnecessary, but it is about focusing on the individual, with all their particular strengths and challenges.