The new school year is about to begin. On Tuesday, the faculty will gather for the necessary meetings and reflections. Wednesday is the first day of school for the children. I"m starting the term with only 21 students. This is the smallest class I've ever had in the ten years I've taught 2nd grade. I won't have a morning aide this year due to budget cuts, so a small class size works in my favor.

Between the beginning of Dilantin reduction last March and the end of the school year in June, I experienced 2-3 simple partial seizures during school hours. It was always reassuring to have my aide present, for I could quickly hand the lesson over to her, tell the children I'd be back as soon as possible and hurry down to the office. There, Mary, our school secretary, or Rich, our school principal were able to help me.

While the primary purpose of having a classroom aide is to ultimately better serve the students,there is no doubt that her presence has been a blessing for me in my situation. While I don't expect to have any problems this year, the fact remains that I'm still in the process of switching from one medication to another. As I wrote in my last entry,it can be worrisome to wonder if an unexpected seizure can occur.

Dr. Stephen Schacter, here at Epilepsy.com, has done a marvelous job of putting together seizure preparedness plan forms for us to utilize where we see fit. After looking them over, I've decided that I'm going to fill one out and hand it at the school office. Although we've always had a verbal understanding of what actions are or are not necessary should I have a seizure at our small school, it truly is more wise and responsible to have my instructions available in written form. Certainly, this is the time time to do it. Instead of looking at the loss of my classroom aide as a negative, I shall simply have to view this development as an opportunity to put a written plan of action down on paper. It's very possible that the plan may never be needed. But in the event that I do have a seizure, I will have done my best to inform those about me as to what needs to be done.

In addition, I will have to speak in very general terms to my young students about what we do in our classroom in case we ever need emergency help. Usually having 2 students assigned to get the teacher in the next classroom is all that is necessary. There have been times when I've worked emergency procedures into Language Arts lessons about writing directions or sequencing. In past, I've also touched briefly on epilepsy when talking about the brain in our Science unit on The Human Body. It will all work itself out, I'm sure. The upper grades (6-8) will be learning about people with Down's Syndrome this year. There may be opportunity for me to speak to these students about epilepsy as well.

For the most part, teaching reading, writing, mathematics, language, science, social studies...These are the things I shall be concerned with at work each day. I pray that everyone beginning a new school term, be they students or teachers, be blessed with a year that brings them great personal growth and success.

Buona Fortuna! Good luck!

Anna