DD's possible absence seizures - which seemed at the time to last forever - actually were no more than a couple of seconds. She would then shake her head and rub her eyes. When we asked "Are you ok?" or the like she would respond with "Huh? What? Oh yeah, I'm ok." She never experienced one while hooked up to an EEG so they were never able to confirm if she was actually having seizures. They did pick up "discharge" during her in patient EEG, though.

We were asked if she responded to touch but we realized they never really lasted long enough to find out. I have a memory of her at about maybe 4 staring into space and not responding when I touched her cheek one time but I can't recall any other times when they lasted long enough to try it.

Consider yourself lucky that your school is coming up with the idea of absence seizures. My DD's kindergarten teacher just said she was looking away, not paying attention, being disrespectful and refusing to answer when spoken to. Combined with seeming to "go away" when reading you would think someone could have connected to dots to at least have us get her checked...

Good luck. If this is occurring 3 or more times a week they may want to do a 24 or 48 hour EEG to see what's going on. DD really didn't mind having them. She even wore them to school for a couple of days last June.