Tyler's Story | Immunisation | Guest Book | Main Page
Note: The services listed in this page are primarily for Sydney, Australia. I would be happy to list services in other countries if the demand for these is sufficient (one or two emails should be enough).
Most parents notice that there is something wrong with their child long before the medical fraternity is willing to admit it. The child may be having difficulty talking or paying attention, or maybe they seem exceptionally clumsy. These may be due to developmental or physical problems, or they may be nothing. When we confront doctors with this, the general response is to keep an eye on them for any change. As parents, we are in the best position to keep an eye on our children and we tend to notice when our child is having problems. If there is a problem then the earlier action is taken the greater the chance of heading off whatever problem may be occuring.
Now, we are not advocating running to the doctor and forcing them to help if our child trips or bumps into walls, but if this continually happens then we need to do something about it. It may be that your child is naturally clumsy but we need to know if there is a problem so we can address it early. This page is aimed at helping parents get help if they suspect a problem and actions you can take on your own to help. Nothing in this page revolves around radical medical treatments or mystical cures. We aim to provide common sense information on what parents can do and information on proffessional bodies that are there to help.
When Tyler was twelve months old he developed epilepsy and was also diagnosed with a form of aphasia (communication disorder). We relied on our neurologist for Tyler's care. He was put onto an anti epileptic medication and that seemed to help regulate the epilepsy and vastly reduce the number of seizures he was having. We then asked the doctor about his speech and what we could do about it (he was talking before the onset of the epilepsy). We were told "not to worry" (ever heard that before?). Thankfully, we continued to "worry" despite the medical advice. Tyler was incredibly frustrated because he could no longer communicate and was starting to have behavioural problems as a result.
We started looking for a speech therapist for him and eventually found one. She informed us that teaching him sign language would also be beneficial. We were doubtful about this as the doctors had told us that if we taught him sign language he would not learn to talk. What we found was that all children communicate by sign language (watch a small child and see how they use their hands and expression to get their point accross), so we started teaching our son sign language.
Amazingly, as he learnt to communicate using his hands his behaviour improved due to a decrease in his frustration levels. Now, when he has a run of fits, he loses most of the words he got back but as he has his sign language (he keeps nearly all of it) he can still communicate and we have found that his signing actually helps him get his words back.
We confronted the doctor about her lack of help and she duly informed us that her job was to manage his seizures and as they were mostly under control her job was done. To get some of the services our son needed we actually went as far as lobbying our local politician. It is our hope that we can help other parents get the help they need without going to such drastic measures.
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