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absance seizures and emotional changes in 6 year old

Tue, 07/03/2007 - 22:40
Hello, I didn't see another thread similar to this one, so here goes: My 6 year old son was diagnosed with absance seizures in January (we had noticed eye rolling that seemed to get "stuck" and asked the doctor at his 6 yr appt. and they sent him to get an EEG, now he sees a pediatric neurologist). There were several tiers of meds that he could go through..the first (sorry! I can't remember the name!) was supposed to prevent absance but not grand mal and of course, what did he have 2 of at school? So, now he's on Valproic Acid (I know that's the generic name, not sure what the brand name is!) and we haven't noticed any seizures at all. At first, we had grandparents and such telling us that they noticed he focused better on them when they were speaking to him (there was some concern about ADHD, but I didn't pursue it, wondering if it was just a young child's attention span!). He did not have any trouble in Kindergarten this year, and "graduated" on grade level for first grade. This summer, though, I've noticed a change in him. We had been trying to get him to stop sucking his thumb and he picked his "prizes" for going so many days without sucking his thumb, really into the whole program. Well, I've noticed in the past couple weeks, the focus is off, he's become more argumentative about things (although he is a sweet child and will apologize to me several hours later, we are pretty close!), and he's consistently sucking his thumb, not just when he's tired, which is when he would normally do it. I can't say that he's turned into a behavior problem or anything, just that he's not "right" and I think he feels it, too, when he apologizes to me of his own free will. No matter how much sleep he gets, he still tends to be whiny and very emotional. We had ended Kindergarten with him expressing his frustration better (asking for help, rather than crying about it), but now we're back to square one. There are times when this normally extroverted child seems very introverted and chooses to play alone, rather than be with friends. I've been over this with my husband and friends . . . is it because he's six or can it be something with his epilepsy or medication? Or just summer vacation? (I teach at the school he goes to, so while I don't normally see him during the day, he comes to me after school every day. Now that we're off for the summer, we're both home all the time). Is anyone else experiencing something similar? As a P.S., I did pursue getting him into "child study" so that his teachers will understand the need for repeated directions, etc. that may affect his learning. It's not exactly a 504 plan, but a "continued child study" where we meet if necessary.

Comments

Re: Re: absance seizures and emotional changes in 6 year old

Submitted by mom_of_jack on Wed, 2007-07-25 - 12:02
Thank you so much for your suggestion! I checked into it and looked at a checklist, but not sure if that's what is going on with him. He at least is apologetic to me (sometimes an hour or so afterwards) about some of his behavior, since he knows it's wrong. I'm not sure if that would qualify. I've talked with the neurologist, who has a "wait and see" attitude, especially since he starts school in a couple of weeks. Thanks to everyone for their responses! This is such a great tool to help out!

Re: Re: Re: absance seizures and emotional changes in 6 year old

Submitted by dksimo on Sat, 2007-07-28 - 22:59
Well, sorry things are difficult, but remember to hang in there. These anti convulsant med's really mess with their brain. It kind of changes them which is very sad to me. But like us you are probably stuck between a rock and a hard place. What else can you do? If you need to talk you know where to find me. Kim

Re: Re: Re: absance seizures and emotional changes in 6 year old

Submitted by Rainmanmama on Mon, 2007-08-20 - 10:22
Hi I've noticed the same things while writing a book on seizures and autism - the connection is so great - 30-40% of those with autism spectrum disorder develop these types of seizures. I would love to hear more about progess as things move along for your son. By the way, my son's name is Jack also and he's now 14.

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