[tomsayer]

Great questions!

On the first, we're very cautious; we do not do diagnosis. What we do do is support parents in seeking out a diagnosis if that was the appropriate path. Our experts have all either done diagnosis or facilitated them in the past so they're good and knowing when to suggest that. The balance is in making sure we don't give parents a false confidence, but we find that the pairing of an expert with the family is much more effective than a parent wondering on their own.

On the second point, let me know if I misunderstood, but our goal is to give the right advice. We know that it won't always work and often that will be due to the unique nature of the specific family. Sometimes we will just get it wrong; we have a very rigorous selection process for the coaches and strong QA and ongoing support so we hopefully don't get it wrong very often. But we know we won't be perfect.

[zoomablemind]

A wrong advice may be furnished on insufficient detail of the presented issue, or a biased assessment as could be the case with parent only observation. Yet the effect of such advice will be directed at the child.

> ...we have a very rigorous selection process for the coaches and strong QA...

What is your QA approach? How do you tell a right expert advice from an insufficiently right?

[tomsayer]

We do lots of things, but one of the most important steps is an in-depth role-play where we go through numerous scenarios. We're not just looking for the knowledge (which given their qualifications and experience they should have) but also for their ability to use that knowledge in the context of a parent's own goals and philosophy. If someone brought their own philosophy or values, and not just their experience and expertize, then we wouldn't bring them on.

[zoomablemind]

I'm not sure how to interpret your response.

If a parent is a practitioner of "strong-hand" approach. Your experts would suggest which side of the hand to use or not on which child's body part?

It's absurd, of course, the experts do develop their values and indeed philosophy based on their experience. Even AI based advisor would be acting according to programmed balances and checks.

Thus the importance of how you tell a wrong advice from a right one.

[eba7keb]

Maybe I can try :). I think there is a distinction between philosophy and evidence-based advice and information. For example, there is evidence from research that spanking has negative consequences on development - so we would lead with that evidence.

As a different example, let's take sleep - lots of different philosophies, and the research isn't clear on impact on development regarding which sleep approach is used. So, our professionals can help parents develop a plan based on the science of sleep, and how children learn to support the parent in forming a plan based on their philosophy.

This isn't different than what any evidence-based behavioral professional or a psychologist that a parent would seek out would do. And, it's an iterative process. We work with families over time to track change, iterate on plans, discuss snags, etc.

The balance and check is that its' evidence-based advice, not opinion. Does this help?

[zoomablemind]

> The balance and check is that its' evidence-based advice, not opinion.

Is there any particular body of research that supports your evidence-based advice? I assume this reasearch is public, as to be validated.

[eba7keb]

Are you asking if there is a body of research about child development/sleep/behavior management/learning in children? Yes, there is. Yes, it is public (and diffuse). And it is often misinterpreted and over/under-stated in parenting blogs and books (screen time is a great example of this). There are contradictory studies, but you have to look carefully and weigh the merits of the study (is it correlational? is it a valid study? what are the confounding variables? what is the size of the sample? what are the researchers conclusions?).

Have you ever read Emily Oster? She talks a lot about deciphering the data on pregnancy and caring for children (she wrote expecting better and crib sheet). It's messy science, but there is absolutely data. All the more reason a professional can support a parent to understand how (if) it applies to them and could inform decisions they make when working through a challenge.