Genetic Counselors help you to...
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Comprehend the medical information about the specific condition in your family.
Understand the way heredity contributes to the conditon and risk for recurrence in other family members.
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Review alternatives available to parents for testing, prevention, treatment, and care.
Understand all the available options for making family planning decisions.
Assist in decisions based on your perception of the issues and risks, your family goals and your ethical and religious beliefs.
What happens in a typical genetic counseling session?
Genetic counseling is a communication process between clients and counselors. It is the job of the counselor to provide family tree information, medical information, risk assessment, and psychological support, as needed.
Elements of a typical session include:
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Discussion of why the client is seeking genetic counseling services
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Discussion of laboratory results or reasons for the consult (ex: abnormal AFP screening test)
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Discussion of pregnancy history, medical history, and family medical history (usually a family tree (pedigree) is drawn)
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Discussion of who in the family is at risk for the genetic condition
Discussion of medical and genetic test results, how conditions are inherited, and what to expect in an affected child/adult
Discussion of available testing and if that testing is apporpriate. Counselors are trained to be nondirective, which means that they are taught to respect the decisions clients make
Clients should bring to a session...
Any medical and genetic questions (it helps to write questions down)
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Pregnancy history information (how many pregnancies and pregnancy outcome)
Medical history information (surgeries, medications, specialists seen, unusual health problems, genetic test results)
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Family tree information-bring information about aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, grandparents, in-laws, and ethnic background (it is important to tell counselors about people in the family who had mental retardation, birth defects, delay, unusual health problems, genetic conditons, and early deaths)
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Information about exposures during pregnancy (What was the exposure? How much was the parent exposed to? How many times was the parent exposed? When in pregnancy did the exposure occur?)
Blog- Coming soon!
