No Quick Fix: What happened to Scarlet Chen?

Four-year-old Scarlet Chen drowned in the bathtub of her Scarborough, Ontario, home on July 12, 2004. Her death was initially ruled an “‘unfortunate accident,’” but, on February 28, 2005, Scarlet’s mother, Xuan Peng, was arrested and charged with murder. The case went to trial on November 5, 2007; Peng has been free on $110,000 bail since May of 2005. The February 7th Toronto Star reports on more details about the case, including a visit with pediatrician Dr. James Leung, hours before Scarlet died. “‘”In their mind, they still hadn’t given up on a quick solution,’” Dr. Leung told prosecutor Joshua Levy of Scarlet’s parents.

There is no “quick solution” or “quick fix” to get a child to start talking. There is the slow and steady effort school and teaching and therapy; these often (certainly in the case of y son) do not bring immediate results, but often ones that are long-lasting.

It’s not clear how much education Scarlet received, as she went to live with her grandmother, Li Ning, in China for some time of her short life.

Xuan Peng and her mother, Li, took Scarlet to see Dr. Leung on April 8, 2004, about the child’s delayed development:

Leung told a Superior Court jury Scarlett had delayed motor, language and communication skills and functioned at the level of a 1 1/2 to 2-year-old.

Doctors in China, where Scarlet had been living with her grandmother, Li Ning, said she had hydrocephalus (water in the brain) and the mother and grandmother hoped that surgery in Canada would cure her.

Leung said he was skeptical of that diagnosis, but ordered a CT scan for the girl.

On the day the girl died, Peng, her husband David Chen and mother Ning took Scarlet to Leung for a follow-up visit.

Leung told court the results of the CT scan were normal and that he told the family there was nothing to be done for the girl surgically.

Peng and her mother peppered him with questions, he said, asking whether there was any hope. “They were disappointed,” he said, adding that was a typical reaction for families.

Hours later Scarlet was found drowned in her bathtub, court has been told.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Kathryn Wells, Leung said he never suggested there was no hope for Scarlett.

“There are all kinds of programs,” he said, to help her adjust to the reality that she would always be developmentally delayed, he said.

Autism News Articles quotes from a November 21, 2007, article by Peter Small:

A pathologist is expected to testify that bruises found on Scarlet Chen are consistent with her lying on her back and struggling to lift her head as she was held down, Crown prosecutor Joshua Levy told a jury in his opening address yesterday.

The Crown has placed a full-size mock-up of the bathroom in the front of the courtroom.

“Peng describes in her statement to police the difficulties and frustrations she was having looking after Scarlet,” Levy said.

On the night of the girl’s death, Peng called her husband’s cellphone 13 times over two hours “inquiring when he would be returning in the hope that she would get some relief,” the prosecutor told Superior Court.

“Scarlet was a child that required constant supervision,” he said.

Her mother described her as a child with no sense of danger who would run into traffic, jump from high places and would only communicate with gestures, “a child in her own world,” Levy said.

In her statements to police, Peng said she and her husband, David Chen, noticed that as a toddler Scarlet was slow to learn to speak.

Because Peng had health problems and couldn’t care for Scarlet, the couple sent the girl at age 1 1/2 to live with her grandmother Li Ning in China. She remained there for 2 1/2 years without contact with her parents.
Chinese doctors could not cure her delayed speech, so the grandmother and Scarlet returned to Canada in March 2004 in hopes of receiving better health care.

“Scarlet was, by the age of 4, essentially unable to speak,” Levy said.

In Canada, the grandmother remained Scarlet’s primary caregiver and they shared the master bedroom.
On the last day of her life, Scarlet was taken to see a pediatrician, who told the couple there was no quick fix and they needed to be patient.

That afternoon Scarlet was left in Peng’s care, while the father and grandmother went out.

Two tenants in the house later said they heard nothing unusual.

Peng told police she ran shallow water in the bathtub and added detergent and bleach to clean a few kitchen items and some shower curtains, Levy said.

She said she put Scarlet to bed and the child fell asleep by 6:30 p.m., Levy said.

But after her husband arrived home they found Scarlet not in bed but in the bathtub, naked and submerged. Peng said there was more water in the tub than she had drawn.

Nearby was the shower curtain, neatly rolled, along with the items Peng had soaked.

Levy said the jury will need to consider whether Scarlet would likely have taken the items out of the bath and neatly rolled the shower curtain.