an update about my family...my daughter is in her 30's and has had several pregnacies with 3 live births...it was not until she was in her 4th pregnacies that the doctors discovered that the baby girl would not be born alive and was taken at about 26 weeks...she was perfectly formed no bigger than a barbie doll and twice as beautiful...but she did not have a nose just a piece of skin. and the doctors said her brain was flat. she had severe HPE. further testing showed that my daugher was HPE and one of her two boys was HPE. they both look ok and seem to be ok but have some fairly serious learning difficulties. my daughter quit school and ran away when she was 14 1/2 because she felt so 'stupid'...back then ADHD was just barely known about and her babysitter had two VERY bright daughters who she help up as THE standard. i was unaware of this as i was just trying to make it as a single mom. anyway now that she is older she has become 'wiser'. she now has 3 sons the oldest (12 with hormones and going on 16) has ADHD, the second (11) has HPE. the 3rd is 2 and is twice the handful as the other two. i am homeschooling the two older boys because california has a law that "NO CHILD WILL BE LEFT BEHING" so even tho they don't have a grasp of what is being taught and the school teachers say they don't have time to help...the boys were being passed along from grade to grade and finally at 5th and 6h grade with a grasp of 3nd and 3rd grade info my daughter and i pulled them from public school ...took them off of RITALIN and said lets try one on one. they are both very intelligent but difficult learners. the 11yrold with HPE doesn't like to be taught but has an uncanny instinct for all things mechanical, loves puzzles, knock knock jokes, has a keen but weird sense of humor and a biting wit and off of meds is a very happy child. he has very difficult time focusing, is bored easily and horrible anger issues. he is easily distracted, hates to read. i do a lot of praying for patience, guidance and wisdom. if anyone out there has a child/children with mild cases HPE please feel free to e-mail my daughter and me. we have found that there are not many mild cases or if they are - are not diagnosed. Joan