COPING WITH EPILEPSY: WHEN COUNSELING DIDN’T HELP – LOOK AT BLEAK ALTERNATIVES

“Some of the new, state-run pre-school early-intervention programs like Child Find are helpful in getting the parents of handicapped children, and the infant or young child himself, involved with appropriate stimulation and physical therapy. Schools now are taking these handicapped children at a young age, at least for part of the day. These programs give the parents some hope, some respite, and more realistic expectations about their child’s progress and future.

“While counseling is fun and rewarding when you’re dealing with a teenager like Karen (who will be a winner if only she’ll get her act together), at times counseling can be even more challenging and more rewarding when you have a family with a severely-damaged child. Just think what you have accomplished when you help them to cope, to grow with the situation, to make the best of it, whatever that is, for themselves and for their child. If you look at the alternatives, such as the family breaking up, then you will have a single parent facing that future alone. Or the child could end up in a foster home with the family disintegrated. If you look at these bleak alternatives, then anything you can do to help the family to cope and to make a reasonable life for themselves and for their child is a success. If you define success in these terms, yes, we are usually, but not always, successful.”