title: Educational problems related to quantitative EEG changes in benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes.
abstract: The relationship between educational problems and clinical/electroencephalographic aspects was assessed in 38 children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS). Children were assessed using the School Performance Test; questionnaires on learning difficulties administered to parents and teachers; the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Third Edition; and EEGs. Absolute and relative amplitudes in the classic bands (quantitative EEG) and characteristics of epileptiform activity on the EEG were examined. Educational problems were observed in 7 (18.4%) children with BECTS. In this subgroup, relative alpha amplitudes at the central and parietal electrodes were lower as compared with those of the BECTS subgroup with normal educational performance and a control group matched for age, gender, and socioeconomic status. The data indicated a possible relationship between alterations in background brain electrical activity and the tendency toward inferior educational performance in children with BECTS. This study suggested that quantitative EEGs are a possible physiological tool in the assessment of cognitive aspects in children with BECTS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Campinas (PUC-Campinas), Av. John Boyd Dunlop, Campinas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Glória M A S
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Tedrus
authors.forename: Lineu C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.forename: Elisa M V
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Melo
authors.forename: Valeria L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Ximenes
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004493:Education; D004522:Educational Status; D004569:Electroencephalography; D019305:Epilepsy, Rolandic / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010290:Parents; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014888:Wechsler Scales