The objective of this paper was to identify the number of children with epilepsy enrolled in regular and special public schools in two medium size Brazilian cities and verify which disease variables are correlated to the type of school the children attended to. Study participants were 56 children and adolescents aged between 7 and 14 years; two instruments were used: forms of identification of children and Engel's seizure classification. Obtained data were analyzed, using the Minitab Software - Version 12.1, by means of the Student t, Mann-Whitney and chi-square tests and logistic regression. The results indicate that children from special schools presented cases that were more sever, with greater seizure frequency, earlier epilepsy onset, and longer episodes of epilepsy; they also used a greater number of anticonvulsants. The conclusion indicated that organic epilepsy variables can affect the schooling process for children with epilepsy. However, further studies are needed to investigate difficulties that might interfere with academic performance and that may affect learning in children with epilepsy.
Epilepsy; Schooling; Special Eeducation; Childhood; Adolescence
