Example Scenarios: What Would You Do?

The short scenarios below help you carry what you have learned into everyday life. After each scenario, you will find the recommended approach. Reading and talking through these with family members helps make sure everyone is ready in an emergency.

Scenario 1: A tonic-clonic seizure at home

Situation: Your 8-year-old child suddenly falls in the living room, and their whole body begins to stiffen and jerk.

Approach: Stay calm and check the time. Move hard objects out of the way and place something soft under the head. Gently turn the child onto their side. Do not put anything in the mouth, and do not try to hold them down. Stay with them. If the seizure lasts more than 5 minutes, or if you have a rescue-medication plan, follow the plan; call emergency services if needed. After the seizure, let the child sleep and write down what happened in the diary.

Scenario 2: Absence seizures at school

Situation: The teacher says your child often “zones out” in class, stays unresponsive for a few seconds, and then continues from where they left off.

Approach: This may be an absence seizure. Ask the teacher to write down their observations (frequency, duration). Share the situation with your physician; an EEG will probably be requested. In the meantime, avoid judging the child as “inattentive”; this is an involuntary condition.

Scenario 3: You forgot a medication dose

Situation: In the middle of the night, you realized you forgot to give the evening medication.

Approach: Do not panic. You should have asked your physician in advance what to do about a missed dose and made a note of it. As a general rule, do not give a double dose; but every medication is different. That is why it is best to learn this information ahead of time and post it on the refrigerator.

Scenario 4: During a febrile illness

Situation: Your child has a high fever and has a previous history of febrile seizures.

Approach: Manage it with fever-reducing and comforting measures, and give plenty of fluids. If your physician has previously provided an intermittent treatment or rescue-medication plan, follow it. If a seizure occurs, time its duration and follow the first-aid steps; if it lasts more than 5 minutes, call emergency services.

The power of rehearsal

Picturing in advance what you will do in an emergency (or even rehearsing it with family members) allows you to be far calmer and more effective in the actual moment.

Review these scenarios from time to time along with the summary card on the refrigerator.