Added with permission:

The Story of Bauer - a 2 yr old with Severe Food Allergies

My son has had seizures and I have connected them with food allergies! He has now been seizure free for 5-6 months. I wish I could go back to that first allergist and tell him..."you may have MD after your name, but I have MOM and that outweighs you any day. My gut instincts have been right on.

It’s called transition planning and it’s common for parents to be more stressed and concerned about life after high school than for a child with autism.  However it can be a very difficult and scary time for a child because of change, leaving the structured world of special education. The reality is proper planning for life post secondary education for a child with autism no matter what their level of functioning, is critical to success.

Contributed by Shirley Price

Grandparents play a major part in the lives of many children.  There is a wealth of wisdom, and a ton of love that many of these children get in addition to that of their parents. It really is a two way street because as much as the children can benefit from their grandparents, we grandparents gain so much pleasure from our grandkids. Grandchildren also give us a great excuse to do things that we would never otherwise do at this stage of our lives because we think we are too old.

                                            
My parents were both lucky and very blessed.  They had five very healthy children who were easily high achievers in grade school, high school, and college.  It was probably a good thing for them too, because I was raised on a working dairy farm in mid-Michigan and my father worked two farms about 17 miles apart in order to provide for us and his aged parents. He would not have had the time or energy for a special needs child.

A Different Child

Diagnosis: a large abdominal mass Prognosis: being a vegetable!

Luckily the good experienced doctors got it all wrong.

My name is Sam and I want to share with you my son Peter's story of epilepsy since 1990. I'll cut this as short as I can. You will note that in my story the fine medical doctors are far from perfect to say the least. Further, medical schools and the drug companies believe or pretend to believe they have all the right answers. Well, they don't!

Please do not be bullied and do not be afraid to question every doctor's statements.

Our 11 year old son Jacob has been diagnosed with medically intractable epilepsy. (Complex Partials) He has been having seizures for about three years and is now 11 years old. We have been on three different medications starting with Lamical, Trileptal and now a Keppra /Dilantin combo without sucess.

I opened my son Ian’s book bag, and I felt like someone punched me in the gut.  I was overcome with conflicting emotions of happiness and devastation – all due to a worksheet he completed at school about the word: Danger.

He was so proud to show me the worksheet and explain that danger meant, “It can hurt me”.  I replied by saying, “Ian, did you know what ‘danger’ meant before Mrs. C taught you?”  He just replied – “danger means it can hurt me”. 

A few weeks ago I ran a survey of my members, which total near 700 and I was surprised by the answer to the following question:  What question do you have, but rarely ask (no matter the reason why)?

My son was diagnosed with Gaustaut Syndrome this year and I was told he can not be helped. I want to talk to other moms with children with gaustaut syndrome and also anyone who has help on how to start organization for funding.

Thanks and good luck with your loved ones with epilepsy.

Shanae