When epilepsy is first diagnosed, the stunned parents often see it as a catastrophe striking the child and the whole family. They ask the same questions. Is she going to die? Is it due to a brain tumor? Will he be retarded? Is it our fault? Is epilepsy inherited?

At this stage, the physician cannot and should not attempt to explain all the pertinent facts on epilepsy, and most parents are too upset to remember. They soon recover and are starved for practical, comprehensive, and accurate information that has been written just for them. It is the role of health professionals to provide such material. This issue is so important that some epilepsy programs make parent education compulsory. This is not surprising, because the better parents and their children understand epilepsy, the more success the treatment will be. Clearly, the management of a child with seizures shared responsibility between the parents and the health care providers.

Medications alone do not alleviate all the problems of children with epilepsy, a disorder that may affect so many aspects of their lives. We wrote this book with these facts in mind, but the book does not replace the advise of physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, and others. On the contrary, we urge parents to ask more questions and expect answers.

We hope that the parents and older child with epilepsy will benefit from reading this book. Throughout the text, true case histories, with fictitious names, have been used.

In the management of children with epilepsy, parents must observe certain important principles. These basic rules, which are summarized below, will be mentioned frequently throughout the book.