Sharon
My son 37 ha suffered with focal and general seizures for 27 years. We take 4 AE meds and he has had laser ablation of the hipicantos and a VNS implant 18 months ago. Unfortunately he still has 15-25 seizures every month. His doctors are now asking us to consider a DBS (Deep Brain Stimulator), The entire VNS procedure, and recovery was beetter than I expected. As for effectiveness, if you wand the implant within the first minute of a seizure it definitely stops the building of the seizure's momentum and duration. It also prevents subsequent clusters which are very dangerous. My son has not premonition of a oncoming seizure, and when they start, it's too late for a self-wanding activation, so be prepared to give all his care-givers a magnet to wear all the time. Overall I would give the VNS a good grade. Depending upon the level of your son's autism , I would be more worried about post-operative recovery and healing. Sorry to hear your doctor has not developed a alternative treatment options. Perhaps you need to seek another opinion. We go to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. Good luck and feel to reach-out to me for any follow-up questions. James