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student had a seizure, I think

Wed, 02/09/2011 - 17:22

I am currently a student teacher, and I swear one of my students had either an absence or a simple partial seizure recently. While working with him one on one, I caught him staring intently into space for about 15 to 20 seconds, and this was followed by him shaking his head as if to clear it for a minute or two, acting very confused, and embarrassedly muttering about "sometimes forgetting things" because he couldn't recall anything we had been talking about.

I grew up with frequent seizures (simple and mostly complex partial seizures) from ages 7-23. I had surgery at age 23 and thankfully have been seizure-free since. But I immediately recognized the aura, seizure, and post-ictal recovery because that was me for years. 

Now, I'm not a neurologist, so I am exercising some caution and acceptance about reporting what I observed. I could easily be wrong! Even so, when I mentioned it to my mentor teacher, she claimed that he just goes into dazes and that it's more a behavior problem than anything. He's always done that, and he has no history of epilepsy. Just ignore it; it's ADHD. The sense that I got from her was that she thinks he's just daydreaming and trying to get out of doing his work, so don't humor him.

I feel so unsettled about her response though. I mean, I know what I saw, and it wasn't daydreaming. I teach in a school specifically for students with emotional/behavioral disabilities including some students with Aspergers, ADHD, bipolar disorder, learning disabilities, etc. So this kid is already enrolled in special education services. I want to mention the boy's "episode" to my principal, but I don't know if I should let it drop since my mentor teacher told me to just ignore it. At the same time, I'd hate the idea that he has undiagnosed and unmedicated epilepsy though, and I never said anything. Any advice?

Comments

Re: student had a seizure, I think

Submitted by ejanesuperdog on Wed, 2011-02-09 - 23:05
I don't think it would be wise to mention it to the student or to his parents. I was merely thinking about mentioning it to the administrators at school who can address it however they please.

Re: student had a seizure, I think

Submitted by pgd on Thu, 2011-02-10 - 00:07
My guess is that if you mention it to the administrators of the school, they will likely ignore it 100% unless they can figure out a way for someone other than the school to pay for it/a workup/an evaluation. It's very likely this student will simply fall through the cracks of the system or the parents encouraged to take care of it outside of the school system at their own expense perhaps during summer vacation. I hope I'm wrong but I tend to feel many administrators will simply symbolically toss the situation into a trash can and then swear nothing has ever been said about it at all (aka shred the evidence). Precedent: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_in_the_room By the way, I do very much understand why your mother said it was none of your business. It is such a delicate topic and can very easily open up a can of worms so to speak - at least in today's politically correct society (my view). The student is only 14 and likely may not understand what is behind the involuntary forgetting. Also, a correct diagnosis is not always an automatic gateway to effective treatment. I do believe that the student will, at some time in his life, likely figure it out. It may not be today but sooner or later enough data/evidence will pile up that the student comprehends the situation. Thank you for sharing what you believe may be happening. It certainly displays the difference between a mentor teacher's approach to the topic vs yours - as a student teacher - who has some awareness of what may be going on.

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