Talking to kids about familial Alzheimer's disease: a live webinar with Dr. Hennig-Trestman

In this webinar, we brought in Professor and Author Dr. Bonnie Hennig-Trestman to speak live to our group how to speak with children about familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD), a neurological disease that runs in the family.

Dr. Hennig-Trestman is an Assistant Professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Director of the Carilion Clinic Huntington's Disease Program at Carilion Clinic. She is also the author of the book, “Talking to Kids About Huntington's Disease: A book for people who know children with HD in their family”.

She has over 30 years of expertise providing and guiding clinical services to patients and families suffering from neurodegenerative disease. Her research focuses on developing effective strategies for parents to discuss and navigate topics of risk and diagnosis in Huntington's disease, a disease very similar to FAD.

During this live event, she takes questions from Youngtimers volunteer Susan Hiatt, with members of the Youngtimers community in virtual attendance.

During this discussion, Dr. Hennig-Trestman answers questions like:

1. Why is it important to talk to children about FAD, even before symptoms begin?

2. What are the potential consequences of withholding this information from children?

3. When and how should parents decide to share their risk or research participation with children?

4. How can families talk about clinical trial involvement in ways that reduce fear?

5. What if a parent fears their child will interpret every lapse in memory as a sign of disease progression?

6. How should parents tailor conversations for children with anxiety, depression, or differing emotional readiness?

Note that Dr. Hennig-Trestman previously sat for a one:one interview with Youngtimers founder Lindsay Hohsfield.