ABSTRACT

To examine the effects of some characteristics of the epileptic child on school experience, a cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted.

The data were collected from 110 children with epilepsy between the ages of 10–18 and followed-up by an education and research hospital’s neurology clinic in Istanbul. The “Form of the Factors Affecting the School Experience of Children” and the “Parent Form” containing the socio-demographic characteristics of children with epilepsy and their parents were used in the collection of the data.

In our study, we found out that 12.7% of the children were dropout; 56.4% were moderately successful and 14.5% were not good at their lessons; 47.2% were absent from school for 15 days or more, and 4.5% repeated a grade level. It was revealed that children with epilepsy have problems with school, friends, and teachers.

Duration of disease and seizure frequency was found to be factors affecting the school experience of the child. The child, family, and teachers were recommended training suitable for the school experience of children with epilepsy.

Keywords: Child, epilepsy, school experience