Here's some info that might help you:
Children with epilepsy often have a higher rate of learning problems than thair peers do. Seizures may prevent a child from paying attention or absorbing and processing information. Seizures, even if they occur during the night, which is when Nicole tends to experience them, may leave a child fatigued &/or feeling "foggy" and unable to do school work as expected. Complex partial seizures, such as Nicole has, will cause periods of confusion and disoriencaiion during which the student is unaware of their surroundings. It may take anywhere from seconds to hours to return to "normal." Decreased awareness of the environment is the most common feature of this type of seizure and is often unrecognized or difficult to identify by observers. It may be exhibited by something as seemingly insignificant as purposeless wandering, talking nonsensically, or picking at clothes. Medications used in the treatment of seizure disorders may also affect learning ability, with common side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness, headache, sleep problems, blurred vision and others. There is strong evidence documented in medical literature that antiepilepric drug treatment causes behavioral and cognitive impairment. The extent of thesa effects varies among medications and individual patient response but there is probably no antiepileptic'drug that is completely free of these adverse effects, even if serum levels are within therapeutic range.
Memory problems are common and problematic for children with epilepsy. It is more common among children with complex-partial seizures. The memory impairment associated with complex-partial seizures may be manifested by forgetting new information & poor retention of verbal material (conversations or written). Strategies that may be helpful for enhancing this type of memory impairment may include:
- leam from general concept to the specific
- reduce interference
-stress importance of what is being studied, leam & review
- distribute learning of new material over several weeks rather than a concentrated period of time
- repetition
- relaxation measures
- creata associations and pictures of a concept
- recite, repeat, review
While the goal of antiepileptic medication is to control seizure activity, which in mm increases the ability fora student to leam, both the medication and epilepsy can significantly impair strength, vitality, and alertness. Learning support is encouraged to optimize the educational potential and success of the child.
This is what the nurse put in her report.
