Focal onset seizures in children

There are many good reasons to learn to recognize the signs of focal seizures, formerly called partial seizures. When you know what to look for, you can better support your child and help others, such as teachers, do the same.

Focal seizures have a wide range of symptoms in different children. But usually you will see the same thing in your child from one attack to the next.

If your child has movement symptoms such as twitches, note which side of the body they occur on. The left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and vice versa, so this is good information for your doctor.

Symptoms in young children

Focal seizures can be difficult to notice in children younger than 5 or 6 years of age. This is due to the fact that their nervous system is not yet fully formed.

Your child may simply turn their head to the side or stop the activity suddenly. If your child can't speak yet, he may run up to you and give you a big hug.

Symptoms of focal onset aware seizures

A focal onset aware seizure is one of two types of focally provoked seizures. It used to be called a simple partial seizure. Your child knows this is happening and can remember it when it is done. After that, your child can simply go back to what they were doing before.

What you see depends on where in the brain it happens. There are two main groups of symptoms:

Motor symptoms. These involve movement. Your child may:

Have twitching or jerking that starts in the face, a finger, or toe and spreads to other parts on the same side of body
Have a body part that goes limp and floppy or that stiffens up
Look off to one side
Turn his head to one side and maybe raise an arm up in the air
After the seizure, the parts of his body that had the symptoms may be weak or paralyzed. It could be 2-24 hours before they get back to normal.

Non-motor symptoms. They can affect just about everything else. Some things that may happen to your child:

Feel things like tingling or pins and needles that may start in one part of the body and spread from there
Voices may sound muffled
See or hear things that aren't there, like flashing lights or ringing noises
See things as larger or smaller than they actually are
Smell or taste things that aren't there and are usually unpleasant

Some symptoms may affect basic ways that his body works, such as:

Changes in heart rate or breathing
Changes in skin coloring
Feeling sick
Having goose bumps
Sweating

Other symptoms your child may get are:

Feeling of being outside the body
Sense of déjà vu (feel like you've been here before)
Problems talking (words may come out jumbled)
Sudden swings in emotions, like fear, anger, or happiness
Time seems to slow down or speed up

Symptoms of focal onset impaired awareness seizures

A focal onset impaired awareness seizure is a second major type of focal onset seizure. Doctors called it a complex partial seizure.

Your child will not respond to you or know that a seizure is taking place. Some children may feel like they are daydreaming or staring into space.

You may notice a number of repetitive actions or behaviors, such as:

Bicycling or kicking movements
Blinking
Chewing, gulping, lip smacking, swallowing, or sucking motions
Flailing arms
Grabbing at the air like something is there
Picking at clothing
Running, jumping, and spinning
Wandering around the room

Your child may also have skin color changes, rapid heartbeat or breathing, vomiting, or dry flashes.

After that, your child will not remember this and may feel sleepy.

Auras

An aura can be a warning sign that a seizure is ongoing. It affects about 1 in 3 children, usually before the crisis of consciousness with focal disorders.

An aura can occur in several ways, for example: