Gunilla Rejnö?Habte Selassie|Gerd Viggedal|Ingrid Olssøn|Margareta Jennische
Speech, language, and cognition in preschool children with epilepsy
University of Gothenburg|University of Gothenburg|University of Gothenburg|Uppsala University
studied expressive receptive language oral motor ability attention memory intelligence 20 6yearold children epilepsy 14 females six males mean age 6y 5mo range 6y6y 11mo without learning disability cerebral palsy cp andor autism 30 reference children without epilepsy 18 females 12 males mean age 6y 5mo range 6y6y 11mo ten children partial six primarily generalized four unclassified epilepsy fourteen monotherapy six taking two antiepileptic drugs 13 children free seizures 3 months assessment results show statistically significant difference groups concerning verbal iq expressive receptive grammar receptive vocabulary children epilepsy significantly lower performance iq lower scores tests oral motor ability articulation emerging literacy auditory attention shortterm memory rapid word retrieval parent ratings revealed significant difference communicative ability polytherapy early onset epilepsy influenced results preschool children epilepsy without learning disability cp andor autism may receptive verbal ability within normal range visuoperceptual auditory attentional speechlanguage difficulties could affect school achievement careful testing children epilepsy appear functioning within normal range needed may reveal specific impairments require appropriate professional input