Epilepsy and the inner city schools: a school-based program that makes a difference

A program was developed within the Baltimore City School System to comply with U.S. Public Laws 94-142 and 94-484. The program provided assessment, appropriate placement, counseling, work experience, and epilepsy education. Self-identified students were primarily black and poor, more likely to be either 1 year behind in reading or in special education. Seventy percent had psychosocial problems but for less than half were the problems directly related to seizures. The program decreased the nonpromotion rate and the dropout rate to less than half of that for the school system as a whole, and cut in half the percentage of youths who were unemployed or not in school or training 1 and 2 years after graduation. The per pupil cost was 10% greater than current expenditures for the system as a whole.