Approximately 300,000 children and adolescents in the United States have epilepsy. With the help of medications that prevent seizures, many children are able to control their epilepsy and will have normal childhoods and will be able to participate in regular school activities. Children who have seizures which are intractable (uncontrolled by medication, vagal nerve stimulation, epilepsy surgery or the ketogenic diet) may suffer from learning difficulties, low self-esteem, and a lower level of academic achievement. Approximately 9 percent of children with epilepsy have an I.Q. below 70, which is three times greater than the general population.

Children who achieve and maintain seizure control quickly will have fewer side effects and cognitive impairments. However, even children with an average I.Q. may also have attention problems and are at increased risk for academic underachievement. In addition, children with intractable epilepsy are at increased risk for cognitive impairments and autism, especially if they occur during the early stages of development. In addition, children with severe epilepsy are also likely to experience social rejection from peers due to their disabilities.

There are over 40 different types of epilepsy, the most common of which include: Absence Seizures, Atonic Seizures, Complex Partial Seizures, Frontal Lobe Epilepsy, Febrile Seizures (caused by fevers), Generalized Seizures, Infantile Spasms, Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy, Landau-Kleffner Syndrome , Myoclonic Seizures, Mitochondrial Disorders, Simple Partial Seizures, Secondarily Generalized Seizures, Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, Toni-Clonic Seizures, Status Epilepticus, Drop Seizures, Focal seizures, Jacksonian March, Motor seizures, Multifocal Seizures (common in tuberous sclerosis), Neonatal Seizures and Nocturnal Seizures amongst others.

Each type of epilepsy has a unique combination of seizure type, typical age of onset, EEG findings, treatments, and prognosis. The most common classification of epilepsy types divides epilepsy syndromes by location or distribution of seizures and by cause.

The following is a list of epilepsy syndromes

* Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) * West syndrome * Autosomal Dominant Nocturnal Frontal Lobe Epilepsy (ADNFLE) * Benign Centrotemporal Lobe Epilepsy Of Childhood * Benign Occipital Epilepsy Of Childhood (BOEC) * Childhood Absence Epilepsy (CAE) * Dravet's Syndrome Severe Myoclonic Epilepsy Of Infancy (SMEI). * Frontal Lobe Epilepsy * Juvenile Absence Epilepsy * Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy (JME) * Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) * Ohtahara Syndrome * Progressive Myoclonic Epilepsy * Rasmussen's Encephalitis * Symptomatic Localization-Related Epilepsies

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