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| EPILEPSY FOUNDATION - CHARLOTTE |
from the newsletter
archives of
The Epilepsy Foundation
of NC
(Central/Western
NC chapter)
As a teacher in the public schools for 15 years, I’ve had many interesting experiences. This year I had a possibly very dangerous situation happen in my first grade classroom. I had a student walk up to me and say "I need to go get some water so I can take my medicine." She proceeded to show me 2 tablets wrapped up in a piece of aluminum foil. I told her I couldn’t let her take them and she got very upset with me. She said, "I have to take these after breakfast." I sent her to the office to check out what the medicine was. Boy, was I surprised when the office told me the medicine was for seizures. This was a very responsible 6 year old who was taking her medicine on her own. How long would it have been before I found out that this child was seizure prone?
This story now brings me to the point of this article. As school is getting ready to gear up, there are a few things that you, a parent of a seizure prone child, need to do before school starts.
1) Please notify the office staff and the teacher of your child’s medical history. If your child is returning to the same school don’t assume that the new teacher will already know that your child has seizures. If your child is in middle school or high school, that means you have to talk to a lot of teachers. Yes, the teachers all work at the same school, but that doesn’t mean that they get to discuss children’s special needs with each other. This is where you can become your child’s greatest advocate.
2) Please set up a conference before school starts to discuss
your child’s special needs. At that conference talk about:
| a) | What to do if your child has a seizure (nothing in the mouth, move things, get classmates away, turn on side…) |
| b) | If your child has any auras, tell the teacher what they are. |
| c) | If the medicine has any side effects (sleepiness, dizziness…), tell the teacher what they are. |
| d) | Tell the teacher some things that you watch for to let the doctor know (especially if you are changing the medication). |
| e) | Tell the teacher that you don’t want your child to be treated differently from the children. You just want them to understand that when they have a funny look or just aren’t acting right that they watch more closely and maybe not let them climb to the top of the monkey bars that day. (This is something that I did. She still went out for recess just like everyone else. I just quietly restricted her play so if she did have a seizure, she was less likely to get hurt.) |
| f) | Tell the teacher what you want them to do after your child has a seizure. Do you want the child to go home, or rest and join the class later. Have them always notify YOU, not a sibling who is at the same school. |
These are just some thoughts that I would like to have knowledge of when I have special needs children in my class. No one knows your child better than you. You can help your child’s teacher have a great experience with your child. Remember to keep the lines of communication open and have a great school year!!
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Please note:
The above article was provided to SupportWorks without any original documentation
or dates of original production. We have removed as many typographical
errors (and spelllling errors) as possible. Please read the article
carefully since the prevailing views on various topics may have changed
since the article was originally written. Thank you.
Click here to return to the
Epilepsy Foundation of NC Main Page
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