Bear has been seizure free for 2 1/2 years, and we are finally beginning the wean off of her seizure meds. Because Bear's seizures were not easily treated, her neurologist has been reticent to take her off the meds too early. Her EEG's for the last year have shown as normal but sluggish. In other words, the meds are keeping her brain calm to prevent seizures, too calm.
Her language development has been the biggest hurdle of all, and we believe it is her struggle with language that has propitiated the aggressive tendencies she has. (She has been able to learn some sign language, but this is also quite slow for her.)
Since we started weaning her off in April, she has become increasingly more alert and able to vocalize needs and wants. We try to reward her use of words by giving her what is requested though we do have to reign in the requests for "cookie" and "oc-late" (chocolate). This morning she told our aid "no toothbrush." Isn't that awesome! We had to let her know that teeth brushing was not optional, but we really appreciated her words. We are so excited for this development and can't wait to see how she'll take off once she's completely off the meds!
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