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Dravet syndrome, also known as severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (SME), is a very rare childhood epilepsy syndrome. It affects as few as 1 in 500 children with epilepsy and most commonly starts with seizures that are very similar in character to that of febrile convulsions. Although this syndrome may develop from as young as…

Category: Syndromes

Hemiplegia, much like epilepsy, is a neurological condition that’s caused by damage to the brain. A child can be born with this damage, or it can be developed after a stroke, accident or perhaps a tumour, which is known as ‘acquired hemiplegia’. It is caused by damage to one hemisphere of the brain and 1…

Category: Syndromes

Childhood Absence Epilepsy (CAE) is an epilepsy syndrome that often starts during early childhood between the ages of 4 and 7. It’s very rare for this particular epilepsy syndrome to start any earlier or later than these ages, although not entirely impossible. The syndrome is considered to be slightly more common in girls than boys.…

Category: Syndromes

Benign Neonatal Convulsions (BNC) is a type of epilepsy syndrome that always occurs in young infants. Seizures, or in this case convulsions, will often start to happen between birth up to 28 days old. It’s a relatively uncommon syndrome that affects boys and girls equally. There are two types of BNC, familial and non-familial. Familial…

Category: Syndromes

Benign Myoclonic Epilepsy in Infancy is a very rare epilepsy syndrome that affects boys much more commonly than girls. Children with this syndrome will often commence having seizures from the age of 4 month to 3 years. A third of children with this syndrome will have a family member who has epilepsy, although there is…

Category: Syndromes

Angelman Syndrome (AS) is a genetic disorder of which epilepsy is a common symptom. Epilepsy affects 7 out of 10 children who are diagnosed with AS. In less enlightened times it was also known as ‘Happy Puppet Syndrome’ as children are often happy and have jerking, puppet-like movements. However, this unofficial term is considered to…

Category: Syndromes