Childhood Epilepsy

Reducing what a fall can hit

Every child's epilepsy is different, and your neurologist is the person to ask about seizure types and risk. What we can help with is the house. When a seizure can happen without warning, the risks in a home are the ones any fall carries: hard edges, water, heat and stairs. Home modification does not prevent seizures. It lowers what a seizure can cost.

What usually changes first

• The bathroom. A walk-in or roll-in shower instead of a tub, a fold-down bench, anti-scald valves and a door that opens outward so a child cannot block it from the inside.

• Stairs. A second handrail, a gate at the top where appropriate, and for some children a stairlift or a main-floor bedroom.

• Flooring and edges. Softer flooring in the bedroom and play area, rounded corners on new cabinets, and fewer hard thresholds.

What families tell us

Bath time is the fear parents mention first. Next is the stairs. Families want changes that quietly lower the risk without making the child feel watched or different from their siblings.

How we plan with your OT or PT

Your child's therapist and neurologist know the pattern of their seizures and what they can safely do alone. We measure the house, share drawings with the therapist and adjust before we build. The written estimate goes to you and to the therapist so a case manager has what they need.

Epilepsy is one of the conditions Texas HHSC names as qualifying for the CLASS waiver, which may pay toward minor home modifications if approved. See who pays for home modifications in Texas.

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