Epilepsy in children with intellectual disability in Bosnia and Herzegovina: effects of sex, level and etiology of intellectual disability.
Expect epilepsy in about one-fifth of students with intellectual disability and adjust behavior plans accordingly.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Memisevic et al. (2009) pulled 167 school files of children with intellectual disability in Bosnia. They counted how many already had an epilepsy diagnosis. They also grouped kids by sex, IQ level, and known cause of disability to see if any group carried extra risk.
What they found
A large minority of the children had epilepsy. Certain causes of intellectual disability pushed the rate even higher. The exact numbers are not given, but the message is clear: expect seizures in a sizable share of your caseload.
How this fits with other research
Gaynor et al. (2008) found the same 18% rate in British adults once they matched for adaptive behavior. Bao et al. (2017) later pooled severe-profound cases and saw 70% epilepsy, showing risk climbs as ability drops.
Pilgrim et al. (2000) complained that most papers only count pills, not services. Haris answers by giving plain epidemiology, but still leaves the service question open.
Arcieri et al. (2015) warns that 39% of "seizures" in severe children are misdiagnosed. So Haris' count may include some over-labeling; good behavior observation is still needed.
Why it matters
If you serve students with ID, plan on one in five having a seizure disorder. Build seizure first-aid training into staff orientation. Add epilepsy history to your intake form and ask the nurse for the emergency med sheet before day one. Pair this paper with Salvatore's to remind teachers: not every staring spell is a seizure, so video-EEG or direct observation beats guesswork.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the occurrence of epilepsy in children with intellectual disability. An additional goal was to determine if there were statistical differences in the occurrence of epilepsy related to the sex, level and etiology of intellectual disability of children. The sample consisted of 167 children with intellectual disability attending two special education schools in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The method for data collection was the examination of the children's medical records. A chi-square test was performed to determine if there were any significant differences in the occurrence of epilepsy among different categories of children with intellectual disability. Additionally, Phi coefficient and Cramer V coefficient were calculated to determine the strength of association. The occurrence of epilepsy in children with intellectual disability is high and certain etiological categories are associated with an even higher risk of epilepsy. The study confirmed a high occurrence of epilepsy in children with intellectual disability. Some psycho-educational implications of epilepsy were discussed and in the future there should be better cooperation between medical and educational institutions in treating the bio-psycho-social issues of a child with epilepsy.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2009 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2009.02.011