Does anyone have any experience of petite mal siezures or absents as they are some times called?.
i've been on the internet and i now know what they are but was wondering if anyone had any first hand experience of them.

I would be really grateful of any info

thanks kerryl xxx

I used to provide respite care for a lad who had these...Im not sure what you're looking for??

When he had them he would be having a conversation with someone and mid sentence he would just stop and glance away into nothingness, it would last a minute or less then he would start up the conversation again with whoever he was talking about and it would be on a totally different subject.
Of course the lad did try and milk it sometimes...he would pretend he was having one, course the thing is he would continue with the same conversation that he was having before the episode.

As I said I don't know whaat you are after so you'll have to let me know

Celticwolfspirit

my neice has them (several times an hour)

they are almost undetectable with her and we only knew after extensive tests. Its hard to say what effect they have as she has SLD and at 16 is functioning at the stage of a pre school child

Thanks for the info.
i guess what i really wanted to know is if there are different serverities and what tests are carried out if this problem is suspected.
My daughter's teacher think she may be suffing from these as she as started slipping in her work the only problem is she is more than capible but she isn't completing the work unless she is having one to one..
she is six years old and has an history of febrile convulsions but as also got glue ear.she is also waiting for ENT appointment.
In your appinion do you think glue ear could cause the same problems ?

kerryl xxx

she may not be hearing all the instructions etc if she has glue ear

is the teacher adopting strategies to support her....not moving around the room when talking, making eye contact, ensuring your daughter can see her face/board when she is talking, making sure all staff speak to her face to face..ie not speaking behind her if they are talking to a group, ensuring she understands the instructions by asking her to repeat them

Thanks DQ i'll be asking those questions as tomorrow is parents evening.

kerryl
xxx

The glue ear also means they can hear some pitchs but not others.A worrying time for you Kerryl.

Very worrying hoping and praying it's glue ear !

kerryl xxx

My son had petit mal epilepsy diagnosed at 6 years of age.
I don't think that working one to one with your child will cause her to have these fits as if they are pmals she will have no control over them and will also usually be unaware that she is having them. Which is why children fall behind as theydon't know to ask the teacher to say it again, but infact what they heard was a sentence that doesn't make sense. IN fact some children miss 80% of the words within a sentence with out knowing it.

Yes there are different degrees of it and the very worst ones will need medication to stop it becoming a full fit, but the good news is that over 90% of children with it grow out of it by puberty. My son 11 has just come off his medication and been tested as being free of them as he has developed early.(never mind the bad tempered testosteron!)

Any questions just ask and I will try and help.

Hi Kerryl, sorry I can't PM you back but I will try to answer your questions. They asked us if he ever had a fixed stare, a bit like a daydream but one that you cannot snap them out of by clicking your fingers etc. The childs hearing in fact all their senses goes during a petit mal.These can be as short as 1 second and only the longer ones will get noticed.
We also had to note down when these happened. 4 main triggers, flashing lights (as we all know but not suprisingly as common a trigger as you might think, tiredness, hunger and stress/extreme worry.

When it looked quite likely that we had ticked all the boxes with these questions we were sent to have an ECG. It was fine they make you feel really relaxed and make it fun for the kids they make out in pen where they want the clips to go on his head and then use a jelly to keep them in place (a bit like hair gel and not very strong as they fall off easily) Then you sit there with child on lap or in the chair next to you and they show them lights make them watch objects all sorts of things while they record the brain patterns. It really is an easy test for the children, lots of coloured wires but nothing even vaguely painful.
I seem to remember the first one he had we had to keep him up half the night so that he was tired in order that they could rule that out as one of the triggers. But they can go to sleep during the test if they want to, my son did.

I really hope this puts your mind at rest a bit. I will keep my fingers crossed for it to be something simple and easily sorted.

And you are right I did misread your post I think I need half term I am getting too tired.

A good in class strategy is to ask your child to repeat back instructions as soon as the class have been sent to do there own individual work. In my sons class the LSA used to go and ask him to repeat back what the task was quielty and one to one so any misunderstandings could be sorted immediatly and this boosts confidence as this is what slows these children down not their ability.

Hope I haven't gone on too much.

thanks Caroline, that is brilliant advice, and helpful information for everyone.

Kerryl i hope your little one is ok, and make sure you get the right help for her

Thanks caroline
you are a star all the info you have given me has eased my mind a little.
Did notice this morning 4 time in 45 minuets where she stopped in mid sentence her eyes went up to the left each one lasting about 3 seconds then she asked me the same qestion she had already asked me.
when you were talking of flashing lights,hunger and tiredness are these symptoms or causes as she is complaining of flashing lights and is always hungry and seems more tired than usual.

sorry to ask so many questions but it's great to talk to some who has first hand experience could you also tell anything about the medication.


thanks again
kerryl xxx

p.s thanks DQ i'll let you know what happens

hi kerryl, they are triggers for petit mal rather than causes you either have it or you don't, well in fact technically we all have some but what we also have is a tolerance level to it and some peoples is higher than others, so some have pms and some don't.

My son was more likey to have a pm if he was stressed or hungry or very tired so you just work around it lots of healthy snacks in the house and I rarely if ever say no when he asks for food.(Luckily he is built like a bean pole and plays loads of football, and is very sporty)


By flashing lights i meant strobe lighting, not him seeing flashinglights.

Quite happy to talk medication but it does depend on the child, age weight etc.It was basically for us dissolving a tablet morning and evening for him. Thats it, except you have to build them up slowly starting with a weaker dose until you get to the right level and similarly when they come off you go down slowly. But the doctors will talk you through all of it.

Hope parents evening goes ok

thanks again caroline

i'll just keep my fingers crossed now !

parents evening went great with both daughters they both have fantastic teahers who i respect greatly.
They have put her in a target group where she will have an adult on her table all the time to keep her on task.
quess it's just a case of waiting now i'll let you know what happens
thanks again kerryl xxx