Approximately 1% of the population has epilepsy, so it is a very common problem. There are many different types of epilepsy that present with different symptoms. Children may have staring spells, have a simple tic, or laugh uncontrollably, their whole body may shake, or they may only have difficulty with hearing or vision. Some forms of epilepsy are genetic, but most are not. A neurologist will evaluate your child's semiology (what happens when they have a seizure), perform electroencephalogram (EEG) studies, and often an MRI to diagnose the exact kind of epilepsy. There are many drugs for epilepsy, but some work better for particular types of epilepsy than others.
If your child's seizures do not stop with medication, then surgery may be an option to stop or reduce the the number of seizures. This will involve much more testing and evaluation to determine how beneficial surgery could be for your child, as not everyone is an appropriate candidate.
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