Cognitive and behavioral outcomes of epileptic syndromes: implications for education and clinical practice

Abstract

The educational and social progress of a child with epilepsy depends not only on seizure control but also on cognitive and behavioral factors. The various epilepsy syndromes of childhood and adolescence differ greatly in terms of cognitive and behavioral outcome. A high proportion of babies who have West syndrome and children who have Dravet syndrome (severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy) will have long-term cognitive and behavioral problems. The Lennox-Gastaut syndrome also often has a poor prognosis in this regard. Children with the Landau-Kleffner syndrome have a variable prognosis, some regain speech and others have permanent speech impairment. Benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes is now recognised as lying on a spectrum with the Landau-Kleffner syndrome: mild cases have few if any cognitive or behavioral problems but others may have quite severe difficulties. People with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy may have characteristics suggesting frontal lobe impairment. The educational and social impairments associated with the epilepsy syndromes of childhood and adolescence are of major importance but they have been the subject of remarkably few well-performed studies. The impairments are not always necessarily permanent and it seems highly likely that the cognitive and behavioural outcome of at least some of these syndromes can be influenced greatly by early effective treatment with either antiepileptic medication or surgery.