What symptom might a child with absence seizure disorder exhibit?

A child experiencing an absence seizure typically exhibits a characteristic symptom of staring into space, which is often accompanied by a brief loss of awareness of their surroundings. During an absence seizure, the child may seem to "vacation" in their mind, showing no response to external stimuli for a few seconds. These episodes are usually very brief, lasting only a few seconds, but they can occur multiple times throughout the day.

This behavior is distinctively different from other symptoms associated with other types of seizures. For example, rapid eye movement may be observed in certain contexts but isn't specifically indicative of absence seizures. Severe muscle spasms are more characteristic of generalized tonic-clonic seizures, where the child may exhibit stiffening and jerking motions. A general loss of consciousness can happen in various seizure types, but in absence seizures, the child does not lose consciousness in the same way as in tonic-clonic seizures; rather, they temporarily cease interaction with their environment. Thus, the primary and distinguishing symptom of an absence seizure is indeed the momentary staring into space.