title: Epilepsy and language development: the continuous spike-waves during slow sleep syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Continuous spike-waves during slow sleep syndrome (CSWSS) is a rare epileptic syndrome occurring in children, which is characterized by the association of epilepsy, neuropsychological disorders, and abnormal paroxysmal electroencephalographic (EEG) discharges activated by sleep. Language can be affected but, to date, language disorders and their long-term outcome have been documented only rarely.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Description of language impairment in patients with the CSWSS.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a detailed language testing in 10 right-handed children and adolescents with the CSWSS. Their pragmatic performance was compared to that of a control population of 36 children aged 6-10 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with CSWSS had lower scores in tests measuring their lexical, morphosyntactic, and pragmatic skills compared to controls. Comprehension remains unaffected. In addition, language impairment was found to be just as severe in patients in remission as those still in an active phase.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found severe language impairments in lexical and syntactic skills. The language profile is different from that observed in the Landau-Kleffner syndrome. Moreover patients in remission and those in an active phase of the CSWSS have the same language impairment profiles. This confirms the poor long-term neuropsychological prognosis. Our results raise points about the relationship between epileptic activity and language development. This pilot study underscores the need to assess language, and especially pragmatic skills, and to study long-term outcome in such childhood epileptic syndromes.
authors: Department of Neurology, CHRU de Tours, France.
authors: Séverine
authors: S
authors: Debiais
authors: Laurie
authors: L
authors: Tuller
authors: Marie-Anne
authors: MA
authors: Barthez
authors: Cécile
authors: C
authors: Monjauze
authors: Amedh
authors: A
authors: Khomsi
authors: Julien
authors: J
authors: Praline
authors: Bertrand
authors: B
authors: de Toffol
authors: Alain
authors: A
authors: Autret
authors: Catherine
authors: C
authors: Barthelemy
authors: Caroline
authors: C
authors: Hommet
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D007804:Language Development; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013577:Syndrome