Family-Professional Partnerships

Kris Kahler, now a top student at Maize High School in Maize, KS, has succeeded in a perplexing world. Although he faces many challenges, including Asperger's syndrome, with the support of his family, he is finding his way into a bright future.

"Going to the psychiatrist was the best thing we could have done for Curtis," his mother, Cathy, said. "It took a long time to get where we are now, but it was well worth it. We used to be afraid to go out in public because Curtis might have an episode. It was so embarrassing; we had no control over him." Things are different now: the Carter family has control. This story profiles a partnership between the Carter family and the teachers and other practitioners who work with Carter, their son, who was diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD).

Katy was anxiously filling out her fifth child's kindergarten enrollment form. Katy smiled, and turned to look at her husband, "You know we found out that we were going to have another child when our third daughter entered kindergarten. Wouldn't it be strange if I was pregnant again?"  Tom just laughed and shook his head. As fate would suggest, Katy found out just one week later that she was indeed pregnant with her sixth child. This story profiles the positive attitude of a family whose youngest child was born with Down syndrome.

Zachary was Eric and Kim's first son, born in the summer of 1998. Little did they know that he was born with a genetic but extremely rare vision disorder called Complete Rod Monochromacy or Typical Rod Monochromacy that only affects about .08% of the world's male population.