Up to 50% of all children have undiagnosed seizure disorders, to a great extent because they are difficult to diagnose and due to a lack of awareness and understanding. Caren Haines, with renowned behavioral child neurologist Nancy Minshew, MD, is determined to change that. At age two, author Caren Haines’ son was diagnosed with autism. By the time he was 12, his diagnosis didn’t account for his uncontrollable aggression, the acrid smells that lingered in his mind and the odd voices that screamed at him from inside his head. By the time he was 18, his out-of-control behavior mirrored a mood disorder with psychotic features. Silently Seizing begins with a close-up look at this family’s journey and examines a disorder that cannot always be identified in a clinical setting. Intersecting at two medical sub-specialties, neurology and psychiatry, the child who has autism and partial seizures is at a serious disadvantage. By inadvertently allowing children’s brains to “silently seize,” we are robbing children of their ability to function normally. When treated early with anti-seizure medications, many children show amazing gains in expressive language and comprehension. Many begin to speak and learn as many troubling behaviors begin to disappear. Even more important, many children lose their diagnosis of autism.
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