Editor:

First I would like to thank God, our family, friends, colleagues, the local churches and the entire Kingsville community for all the prayers you offered up for our son.

One person who we cannot thank enough would be Mr. Robert Custer, a Social Studies Teacher at Gillett Intermediate School.

Parents, it is very important that we keep the lines of communication open with our children’s teachers. Just think about this, we don’t see our kids all day until after school, so teachers play an important role in giving us feedback about how our children are performing at school and any changes in behavior.

In our particular situation, our 12 yr old son was not performing well in school and we would receive the usual notes home from the teacher or an email stating that he had not completed his homework, turned in assignments, didn’t complete in-class assignments, etc.

In some cases, a parent might get offended or feel the teacher was picking on their child if they receive constant notes; but we really need to stop being on the defense and pay closer attention to our kids when this begins to occur because little did we know that something so small would be an eye opener.

Because we stayed in constant communication with Mr. Custer, we were able to compare our son’s behavior both at home and at school.

The feedback that we received from our son’s teacher led us to be more attentive to his actions and to realize that something was seriously wrong.

As we continued to work with the teacher in trying to determine if he may have a learning disability, our son’s daily motor skills were deteriorating.

At that point, we decided to take him to a doctor who attempted to diagnosis him with ADD. We were not convinced because he was having progressive problems with his motor skills, coordination, balance, and memory. We had to demand to see a neurologist. (Parents Beware: ADD is over diagnosed and many times without a complete assessment).

At the initial visit with the neurologist and an expedited MRI scan, it was discovered that our son had a condition call hydrocephalus. His condition was so serious that he had to be scheduled for emergency brain surgery the next day. If this condition had continued to go undetected, it could have been fatal for our son.

With all of that being said, we would like to bring awareness to this condition. Hydrocephalus is a condition not to be taken likely; basically it is fluid on the brain.

Kids performing poorly in school is one of the first indicators of this condition so don’t be so quick to think your child has a learning disability such as ADD.

Another indicator would be constant headaches, which could go undetected because your child could just need glasses. This condition progresses slowly and signs may not surface for 2-3 years.

Parents be vigilant of your child’s behavior and go with your gut instinct, it’s usually right. We thank God for Mr. Custer’s actions and his continued concern for our child.

To the KISD superintendent and principal at Gillett, we definitely need more teachers like Mr. Custer. His approach in handling the situation with our son and working with parents should be used as a model for other teachers in the district.

Our son is doing great and continuing to recover from this life changing experience and is looking forward to the new school year.

For more information about hydrocephalus please visit: http://www.medicinenet.com/hydrocephalus/article.htm

James and Barbara Collins