Ready to go back to school with epilepsy?

Heading back to school with epilepsy can be stressful. But there are now several resources available to parents and teachers that can help with the transition.


Web resources
There is a site called Epilepsyclassroom.com. It opens with a welcome from Greg Grunberg of Heroes, founder of the site TalkAboutIt.org. The site was designed by UCB and the Epilepsy Foundation with help from two experts, one in the field of neurology and the other in the field of teaching, leadership and curriculum development.

You will find tips for families such as:
* Who to tell about your child’s epilepsy
* Information your child’s teacher needs to know
* A few tools to overcome the stigma associated with epilepsy
and more

There’s also a section for teachers and schools including:
* Lesson plans broken down by grade level
* Detailed information on first aid
* How to talk about a seizure with the class
and more

Training offered to school districts
The Epilepsy Foundation of New Jersey (EFNJ) has been tackling the topic of epilepsy in schools all over the New Jersey. In fact since 2007 the organization, with support from the Anita Kaufmann Foundation, has educated more than 20,000 fifth grade students on the topic of epilepsy using a program called Thinking About Epilepsy.

The 40 minute presentation, which is offered at NO COST, was created to increase awareness and to reduce stigma’s about epilepsy. In each presentation, the 5th graders are taught how to recognize different seizure types and provide the proper first aid.

If you are interested in arranging a presentation or have a connection with any school that may benefit from this program please call Jenna Andolora of the Epilepsy Foundation of New Jersey. You can reach her at 1-800-336-5843 or jandolora@efnj.com.


Let me know how it goes
All this information can only help to make the transition to a new year (and new teacher or new school) a bit easier. I’m thinking of all of you as you head back to school. Let me know how the transition goes, I’d love to hear.

Jessica K. Smith Founder and CEO; Executive Director

Jessica Keenan Smith is a patient advocate and epilepsy community leader with more than 15 years of experience. As Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy and Executive Director of ASENT she bridges the gap between the scientific and patient communities, with a particular focus on the needs of the epilepsies. Jessica Keenan Smith is Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy, an award winning online resource for people affected by epilepsy to share stories and access in-depth information on the disease. Since 2009, Living Well With Epilepsy (https://livingwellwithepilepsy.com) has been featured in Forbes, Wired, NBC, NPR and the cover story of Epilepsy Advocate Magazine and has partnered with companies such as UCB, Lundbeck, Sunovion, Eisai, and more. Ms. Smith is also the Executive Director of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics (ASENT) (https://asent.org), an organization that brings together leaders from industry, academia, government and advocacy who are engaged in bringing drugs and devices to market across all neurologic disease states. In this role she is responsible for leading a successful scientific journal and annual scientific conference with speakers from all over the world.

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Epilepsy