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Where education at an ordinary school is not possible for
any of tne above reasons, the following alternatives arise -
1. Special boarding schools for epileptics. These are
usually attached to epileptic colonies (as at Lingfield). Hie
role of epileptic colonies is more and more that of a long stay
hospital with educational facilities, to which children are sent
for stabilisation and sometimes behaviour difficulties, and from
which it is expected they will be able to return to ordinary
schools. These schools all take children who are E.S. N.
2. Special Schools (day or boarding) for E.S.fc. children.
These are suitable for well controlled epileptics of E. S. N. level
with no physical handicap and little or no behaviour disorder.
3. Special schools (day or boarding) for Physically Handicapped
children. These are suitable for well controlled epileptics
of above E. S.N. level and with little or no behaviour
disorder, who have an additional physical handicap. The physical
handicap may be responsible for or associated with the epilepsy,
e.g. celebral palsy, brain tumour, etc., or additional to it,
e.g. heart disease, arthritis, etc.
It is arguable that epilepsy itself is a physical handicap,
and some Physically Handicapped Schools accept epileptic children
as epileptics and educate them either with other physically
handicapped children or as a special group within the school.
This could be equally well applied to groups of spastic children
and partially sighted children.
4. Special Schools (boarding) for Maladjusted children.
Some special boarding schools for maladjusted children are
prepared to consider epileptics but placement is difficult.
Special boarding schools for epileptics usually accept the less
seriously disturbed maladjusted epileptics. It is only very
seldom that an epileptic child cannot be educated in school, but
sometimes home tuition is helpful. Very severely disturbed
epileptic children may have to be admitted to a children's unit
in a Mental hospital.
There are no special arrangements for the grammar school
education of epileptic children. Most of those who are of
grammar school level can go to an ordinary grammar school, and
every attempt should be made to keep them there; there is no
satisfactory alternative.
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