Childhood Absence Epilepsy

A 5-year-old girl presented with a 1-year history of staring spells. She initially had fleeting episodes of staring off that her parents noted sporadically. Recently, these episodes had become more frequent, now occurring multiple times a day. The staring spells often interrupted activities, and during the episodes, she was unresponsive to touch and voice. There were no associated abnormal movements of the extremities or the face during these events. Her parents estimated that the spells could last up to 10 s. Nothing apparently triggered these episodes.