Helping Eden Thrive

Eden is a curious kid who loves to sing and dance. She recently started kindergarten and is thriving, but her early childhood has not been easy. As a newborn, Eden had a seizure in her pediatrician's hands that led to three weeks of care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Children's National. Over the years, her seizures and many hospitalizations have disrupted her early milestones and her family's life. At 3, our experts diagnosed Eden with a rare metabolic disorder called vitamin B6-dependent epilepsy. At 5, our early childhood behavioral health team diagnosed her with autism.

"All of this made the social part of her life very hard," says Eden's mom, Charnece. "Mental health care from the Early Childhood Behavioral Health team at Children's National has helped Eden get back to being a kid. It has helped her learn to express herself. It has also helped us as parents better understand how she experiences the world. The parent support groups and therapy have helped us try to make her life as positive and normal as possible."