Quote From: gold44Encopresis is a true medical issue that involves physical AND emotional issues. It can GREATLY affect the child and their family. They are loners which adds to the problem. Parents must treat both aspects or the child won't get better.
I teach Special Education and I have only encountered one case in 22 years of teaching but it almost made me quit. If it hadn't been for a wonderful man, Tony Lowe, who has two sons that suffered with this disorder. He rans the Encopresis Information Exchange in the United Kingdom and was a great source for me. He even corresponded to the students in my classroom thru email to answer all their questions and frustrations regarding their classmate (who would soil daily).
My advice to any teacher dealing with a student with this disorder is to demand that the parent be ACTIVELY seeing physicans and mental health personnel, and that the school provide a private lockable restroom that the student can change and clean without embarrassment and talk to Tony! Good luck!
Hello Dr. Phil
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for having this topic on your show. I have a grandson who suffered an In-Uteruo stroke. He has some brain damage from the stroke and does not talk. He hears fine, attends school with some time allocated to attending a regular class as opposed to special education but at 12 years old cannot form the language and uses a speaking device to learn at school (Another topic for a great show) . My daughter, son-in-law and myself (his Nana) work with his special needs in many areas. One being that he also suffers from Encopresis. I don't know the science behind all this but my daughter as a young one also suffered with the same issue. I finally was able to get her totally cleaned out by using the recommended -2 oz of Mineral Oil each day. This was recommended at the time for her by her doctor, but caused cramping and made her feel just awful, while she was trying to learn in school. The daily use of Mineral Oil later caused a vitamin deficiency as well as the self esteem issues from dealing with what she had to endure from the other school children. I did not realize that so many were inflected with this disorder. This is such a sad situation for children. It is NOT something that they have control over but does CONTROL their lives. I am shocked at the response from grown adults offering their negative and mean spirited remarks. This is a long term treatment and one that is ongoing while the child is growing, trying to learn, develop and mature into what we all want for our children - A well rounded, balanced, positive, productive, happy adult. I have learned from the mistakes made with my daughter. However, my grandson's case is much more complicated. Please post on your site where we can obtain treatment that can work WITH his other issues. He is on other medication that may be contributing to this disorder. Some of the medication that he is on also causes depression. I am so very worried that this precious child who cannot communicate suffers with this disorder, needs to be integrated into a regular class and is on medication that is known to cause depression. Please help.
