Brian Matthew Bond

This is a true story about my son Matthew. When he entered Kindergarten he was not getting the services he needed on a regular basis. We failed our child because we didn't do everything we could do to ensure his success in school. We had to find a way to communicate what his needs were and why. We decided to write this book All about Matthew in hopes it would help the teachers to better understand Matthew and his history with seizures. The hardest thing a parent can do is to watch your child fail because people just dont understand him. On 6/15/2000 we took Matthew to the Child Development Unit at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh and found out that he is Mildy Autistic.

Kim Bond

      Brian Matthew Bond II or better know as Matthew . He was born on January 2 , 1993 with no complications. He developed normally with walking at 11 months and some talking at about 12 months with his favorite word ,purple , however other words were slow in coming such as daddy which did not come about until he was almost 3 years old.

      At thirteen months Matthew had a febrile seizure , then he had several seizures at 15 month of age due to the Chicken Pox. Matthew continued to have problems with febrile seizures so he was prescribed Phenobarbital which he took daily for about six months. We took Matthew to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. They decided that since the seizures where caused from fever that there was no need for him to be on the Phenobarbital and that we should only treat the fever and not the seizures. Then for 9 months Matthew was seizure free.

      During that time Matthew began speech therapy as I (his Mother ) was about the only person who could understand him. The Speech Therapist diagnosed him with Developmental Apraxia of Speech. He made great strides in his speech , however he was unable to produce the K and G sounds and he made some grammatical errors. He was then discharged from the V.N.A (Visiting Nurse's Association) speech therapy program for the summer.

      Matthew then began having seizures that were not fever related when he was 3 1/2 years old. He was admitted to the hospital (Bradford regional medical center) where he under went many test. Matthew had between 15 - 20 seizures during that day. There was consultation with Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh and Matthew began taking Tegretal and as it was increased Matthew began having drop attacks in addition to his Gran Mal seizures. We took Matthew to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh where they decided to discontinue the Tegretal and begin him on Depakote. As they increased the Depakote to control the seizures Matthew began experiencing problems with his platelet count. He was placed on an additional medication that would enhance the Depakote without having to increase the Depakote. The medication was Lamictal. As increases were made in each medication Matthew had several problems , he would become overly tired , his platelet count would drop and we would receive phone calls after having blood work done to keep Matthew from running around and should he bump his head take him to the Emergency Room immediately. Needless to say, Matthew missed out on great deal of play time where he could run and jump ect.

      After a Emergency trip to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, it was determined to discontinue the Depakote and once he is off this to begin Topamax in conjunction with the Lamictal. When he first started the Topamax he experienced definite mood changes and with the start of Kindergarten , he became overwhelmed. Again his medication was adjusted and the mood swings decreased.

      Matthew has received Speech Therapy through the V.N.A ,IU9 and during last school year. He has made little progress in a year. His language skills continue to be delayed.

      Things that we have found to motivate Matthew is being able to earn things such as movie time, renting a movie, earning a new train or a new book on trains. He does well with many visual prompts to help trigger his memory. We use sign language cues for his speech as he leaves words out such as can, is , it , ect ; because he wants to get his point across as fast as possible , which makes his speech unintelligible. Another thing that we use to encourage him to change his behavior is the Magic1 ,2, 3 . When Matthew is doing something that is unacceptable we tell him that he has a 1 , if he continues we give him a 2, then if he continues we give him a 3 and he is directed to his bedroom until he calms down and follows directions.

      Matthew also does well if directions are kept simple and said slowly. We also have him look at us when we are giving directions and we have him repeat the directions back to us to insure he has an understanding of what to do.

      Matthew is a little boy who has so much going on in his brain that it takes him time to figure out what it is that wants to say and do. When given enough time he is able to do what is expected of him. He responds well to verbal praise and encouragement as well. He knows that for some reason he is different from the others, but does not understand why. Matthew desires to be like the others of his peer group , but does not know how to be.

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