The University of Chicago provides testing of the TCF4 gene for Pitt Hopkins syndrome. www.pitthopkins.org is an organization established by two families to help others with this diagnosis. Below is an article by one of the founders, Sue Routledge, that introduces you to her experience with the creation of their support group organization:
When parents realize that their baby is not developing as they expected they want to know how to help them but they also want to know why their child is different. When a child has, in fact, a very rare condition it makes it very hard to find this out, especially when there is no blood test available. This was the case with Pitt Hopkins Syndrome (PTHS) until July 2007 when researchers discovered the responsible gene and developed diagnostic tests. Since then if a child is found to have a mutated or deleted TCF4 gene on chromosome 18q they are diagnosed with Pitt Hopkins Syndrome.
In October 2007, our family in Europe, got a phone call from our geneticist telling us our son of nearly 16 years old had a diagnosis. As he was part of a research project we did not even know he was being tested. Completely out of the blue we discovered he had Pitt Hopkins Syndrome and we did not know anything about it - even the name was a mouthful! We were told there were probably less than 60 confirmed cases worldwide. We managed to access a few research papers but everything was in pure scientific language and sounded very negative. We wanted to talk to other parents but could not find anyone else with the diagnosis. We searched through rare syndrome groups but no one had any information and it was suggested we start a support group! That’s a good idea if you know someone else with a child with Pitt Hopkins. It was so frustrating to have a diagnosis after so many years but not to know anyone else! “Contact a Family,” a UK-based charity, suggested we put a message on the Making Contact and NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders) sites in the US.
Two days after we posted a message on NORD we heard from a family in the States whose 16-month-old daughter was diagnosed just 5 days earlier. We wrote back and forth and discussed starting an online support group at such time as we found another family. We heard from no one else until the following March when two mothers from the States contacted us on NORD.
All the families were interested in the idea of setting up an Internet support group. On April 13, 2008, the Pitt Hopkins Syndrome Google Group Support group was created by Theresa and Paul, from North Carolina (parents of Victor), and us, Sue and Brian from the Netherlands (parents of Christopher). That first week there were 4 members. A year later we had about 30 members. Now almost 4 years later we have over 160 members, with a new family joining every couple of weeks on average. As of March 2012 we have families from the US, Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Crete, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.
Theresa and Sue are the Pitt Hopkins Syndrome Support Group managers. This group is a place to find support and parent information about PTHS. It has been created to bring together the ideas, thoughts, and hopes of people caring for loved ones with Pitt Hopkins Syndrome.
To join this support group please follow the link: http://groups.google.com/group/pitt-hopkins/about. We also have a website at www.pitthopkins.org