Not What I Expected: Help and Hope for Parents of Atypical Children

by Rita Eichenstein

One option is to hire a medical researcher to investigate the available treatments and explain them to you. Medical researchers may be practicing psychiatrists and psychologists, researchers, or scientists. They will charge a fee to research the existing medical literature (meaning studies appearing in traditional medical journals and other mainstream academic sources, or any other area you would like them to investigate). The cost depends on how much has been written about the particular condition and on the price of medical journals that charge for access to articles. If you are in touch with other parents whose children have the same condition, you could pool your resources to pay for the researcher. The services researchers provide include but are not limited to: Finding and reviewing free medical abstracts and articles from sources such as PubMed. Finding and reviewing abstracts and articles that can be accessed with a fee. Helping parents develop search terms for PubMed, and after they have done the initial search, reading the abstracts for them and helping them sort through conflicting evidence. Culling relevant information from the What Works Clearinghouse, an organization that reviews the research on different programs, products, practices, and policies in education. Conducting searches for rare conditions and conditions where medical and psychiatric symptoms overlap.