The brief guide offers information on epilepsy to teachers and other school personnel. Types of seizures are defined (e.g., simple and complex partial seizures, generalized tonic clonic seizures), and management practices in the classroom setting for each type of seizure are described. Signs indicating that a seizure requires immediate medical…

Presents features and symptoms of nonconvulsive seizures to aid in early recognition. Provides an observation record suitable for use by school staff and parents to aid in diagnosis and to evaluate the efficacy of medical and social work interventions. Suggests postdiagnostic interventions to help prevent seizure disorders from disabling children.…

This examination of the successful community placement of 15 medically fragile individuals with profound mental retardation and complex epilepsy found that simplification of anticonvulsants, early intervention for seizures, and improved staff education resulted in fewer seizures, decreases in emergency room visits for status seizures and…

Partially written by a British student with Asperger syndrome, this article recounts the student's experiences of being excluded from a mainstream school due to the school's inability to respond adequately to recurring epileptic seizures. The article suggests that inclusive schools must change to meet students' individual needs and encourage…

This case involves a couple deciding whether or not their son should undergo brain surgery to treat a severe seizure disorder. In examining this dilemma, students apply knowledge of brain anatomy and function. They also learn about brain scanning techniques and discuss the plasticity of the brain.

This guide provides information on seizures in students with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and offers guidelines for classroom management. First, a classification system for seizures is presented with specific types of seizures explained. Post-traumatic seizures are specifically addressed as is the importance of seizure prevention when possible.…

This paper is a clinical discussion of post-traumatic stress disorder and violence, particularly as it applies to the Vietnam Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. In the first section, the syndrome is described as the sudden onset of explosive rage and unprovoked violence with little or no warning, accompanied by a drastic change in personality. It is…

Intended for secondary school counselors, the pamphlet examines effects of epilepsy on course work and career planning. Briefly covered are the nature of epilepsy, treatment, social impact, and public misunderstanding. Effects on academic achievement are discussed in terms of functional problems related to where the seizure activity is located in…

Describes seizure disorders as affecting the individual's and the family's sense of control and the individual's consolidation of a sense of mastery in the environment. Suggests seizures may distort family negotiations by affecting parent's and child's transactions over issues related to the child's autonomy and competence. Discusses therapeutic…

Children with epilepsy frequently display cognitive sequelae that are overlooked or misunderstood by educational personnel, yet may adversely impact academic performance. Reviews common cognitive-behavioral characteristics of children with epilepsy, typical effects of anticonvulsant medications, and various periictal phenomena and their relative…

Both clinical and laboratory studies demonstrate that seizures early in life can result in permanent behavioral abnormalities and enhance epileptogenicity. Understanding the critical periods of vulnerability of the developing nervous system to seizure-induced changes may provide insights into parallel or divergent processes in the development of…

Tuberous sclerosis is a genetic condition that is strongly associated with the development of an autism spectrum disorder. However, there is marked variability in expression, and only a subset of children with tuberous sclerosis develop autism spectrum disorder. Clarification of the mechanisms that underlie the association and variability in…

Lennox-Gastaut (L-G) syndrome is an intractable generalized epilepsy of childhood onset, associated with spike waves at a slow rate and paroxysmal fast activity. These epileptiform discharge patterns are thought to reflect excessive neocortical excitability and arise from neuronal and synaptic features peculiar to the immature central nervous…

The Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities was administered to 22 children (mean age=90 months) with petit mal epilepsy and 28 children (mean age=85 months) evidencing mixed seizures to determine whether any differences would be found when these two groups were compared either with each other or with a randomly selected group of nonepileptic…

A specialized vocational program served 108 epileptic individuals who participated in the program during the first 18 months of its operation. The following are some of the aspects of the program: utilization of the neuropsychological data in rehabilitation planning, brief work adjustment, a job station program, training in job seeking skills,…