School and Seizures

As the start of school approached this week, I was in a panic. Alex's episodes of pre-seizure headaches have increased to at least once a week and if something isn't done about them, they turn into seizures. I know that Alex gets tired with noise and chaos, and this often brings on these headaches. So, how was he possibly going to handle school? After many discussions with his school principal, nurse, social worker and original kindergarten teacher, I realized we needed a second set of eyes in the classroom. How was one teacher going to manage 18 other kindergarteners and recognize that Alex wasn't well, soon enough to get him to the nurse safely? The night before school, I had a final conversation with his principal who has been incredibly understanding, and he changed Alex's room assignment to a smaller, special ed inclusion room that has a second teacher. This second teacher has had experience with children with CP and epilepsy. We finally met both teachers a few minutes before school started, and decided this was a much better fit. I think we are all thankful of the joint effort to make these changes, because later that day, on the first afternoon of class, Alex started feeling sick. The special ed teacher recognized right off that he needed to go to the nurse. In the nurse's office, he felt better, but when I picked him up, I knew he wasn't doing well. Within 5 minutes of being in the car, he had a seizure. By sending Alex to the quiet and cool office of the nurse, she likely saved Alex from having a seizure right there in the classroom. She bought him some time. I was able to do the pressure point massage and within 8 minutes, the seizure passed. No Valium. We learned many lessons from this first day of school, one of which is that Alex can only handle a half day of school for the immediate future. Maybe he will work up to a full day by the end of the year, but he might not. He will have a 504 plan to state what accommodations he gets and we will revise it as necessary. Mommy School this year is simplified, although it is actually much more academically focused. We cover math, language, reading, writing, art, and many fine and gross motor skills through three activities: IXL (online) math (Khan Academy supplemental when necessary); reading with a world geography focus (such as the amazing Geronimo Stilton series) and art (through an in-depth study of the artists). The schedule looks like this: 7:30 20 minutes of reading with Mommy, (Geronimo Stilton and the Mystery in Venice), which inspires 20 minutes of artwork depicting something that the story inspired, and then we get ready to leave for school. At 1:30, with everyone back from school, we work on IXL math for an hour (30 mins each child). The child not doing IXL is working on an art project. We decided to study Van Gogh this fall. We did Matisse last spring and Jackson Pollock over the summer. But the kids think it's amazing that Van Gogh cut off his own ear, and Izzy is in love with Sunflowers, so the kids quickly decided on Van Gogh. I feel like I have been pulling all nighters at exam time, except that I am 20 years older and don't get to catch up on sleep when the exams are over, but I am hopeful that things are on track for a good year and those all nighters will have been worth it.