Family Issues

It may be helpful to talk with your other children about epilepsy, and encourage them to ask you questions about it. Children often have misconceptions and may even blame themselves in some way about what has happened to a brother or sister. They may be afraid they will start to have seizures, too.

Siblings may also feel abandoned and lonely because the parents have been so focused on the problems of the child with epilepsy and may have spent long hours at the hospital while the other children waited at home.

Setting aside some special time for the other children in the family, and making time to answer their questions fully, should help.

Discipline

Ignoring behavior you don't like (so long as no one is likely to get hurt by it) and rewarding good behavior is as likely to work for children with epilepsy as it is for other children.

However, parents often worry that discipline, or emotional upset because of a wish that is not being granted, will cause a child to have a seizure. They may be tempted to give in to unreasonable demands from the child because of that natural concern.

If this is something that happens in your family, ask your doctor about the level of risk for your child and how you can exert discipline in a way that is safe and reasonable.

Informing Relatives

Informed, understanding relatives are a wonderful source of strength when a child has epilepsy.

But some may have beliefs about this condition that hail from an earlier time. They may think it is somehow linked to mental illness (it isn't), or someone's fault (wrong), or is related to mental retardation (usually not), or is even a sign of spiritual possession (an old myth that still lingers).

Helping other family members understand the true nature of epilepsy as a medical condition affecting brain function will set these fears at rest.

Your commitment to helping your child live as normally and actively as his or her condition permits, and to treat your child as much as possible just like any other child, will guide their response as well.