Parents, carers and families
Your school will benefit from cultivating positive relationships with parents and carers through effective and ongoing two-way communication. This is vital to providing the young person with the right support because epilepsy is a changing condition.
Parents and carers will need to be confident that their child is well supported and treated equally to their peers. They have invaluable insights into their child’s condition and how it affects them.
Schools will need regular updates from parents or carers on any changes in the child’s condition that might affect them at school.
Shared information might include:
The school can also communicate information to the young person’s healthcare team via their family. This may help inform their ongoing treatment. You may also find it useful to have a communication book that goes back and forth between the school and the family, allowing both staff and parents or carers to provide information and ask questions.
You might also consider having a key person on staff whom the parents can contact by email, text or phone.
Things to keep in mind
There are a number of things it’s good to keep in mind when communicating with the family of a young person with epilepsy.
When a young person and their family receive a diagnosis of epilepsy, they may go through periods of stress, denial, sadness, grief, anger and even relief at being given a correct diagnosis. Families often feel alone and experience high levels of anxiety. The unpredictable nature of epilepsy can leave them feeling a lack of control. Having a child with epilepsy can have a significant impact on parents’ or carers’ working patterns.
They may, for example, feel they need to be ‘close by’ or ‘on call’ in case their child has a seizure.
This can have a negative impact on household income, adding to the stress and anxiety, and restricting leisure activities for the whole family.