WBRZ - Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE- A sometimes misdiagnosed disorder is taking center stage, quite literally.

Rett Syndrome is found primarily in girls, but is often mistaken for Autism or Cerebral Palsy.

Kim Preston's daughter, Kiera York, suffers from it. She's among the 1 in 10,000 girls born with Rett Syndrome.
"She wasn't crawling or pulling up, she wasn't doing things that she normally should do," Preston said.

Symptoms usually surface when a child is 6 to 18 months old. Girls with the disorder will will often stop making contact and sitting up on their own. They'll often become agitated and often eventually lose the use of their hands.
But, there is hope.

"Animal models where we had given mice Rett Syndrome where reversed completely. And we did it through genetic manipulation, but it gives us great hope that we could potentially do that in humans," said Kathryn Kissam.

Kissam is the Chairman of the Board for the International Rett Syndrome Foundation.

Saturday night, the group will host Blackout Rett Syndrome with musical performances from Clint Black. It's at the Celtic Media Center, Stage 6. Tickets are $125.

For more information click on this link.