Abstracts

Epilepsy is associated with impairments in attention and memory. Moreover, academic problems occur in a large percentage of children with epilepsy. Presently, there are few studies examining the relationships between memory, attention, and academic functioning in these children., The children ranged in age from 6 to16 and were grouped by seizure type: 23 with complex partial seizures (CPS) (12 with left TLE, 11 with right TLE) and 16 with generalized tonic clonic (GTC) seizures. Their seizures were well-controlled with a single anticonvulsant medication. The groups contained approximately equal numbers of males and females. All preferred their right hand for writing.
Each child underwent a neuropsychological evaluation including, standardized meaures of intelligence, verbal and nonverbal memory, attention, and academic development. Socioeconomic status (SES), was assessed with the Hollingshead Four-Factor Scale of Social Status., The groups did not differ significantly with respect to age, intelligence, or SES. No significant between group differences were found for age of seizure onset, duration of disorder, lifetime number of seizures, or number of seizures in the last year.
A series of MANOVAs revealed a significant attention effect (Wilk[apos]s lambda =.44, F = 4.33, p = .0001), indicating that both the CPS and GTC groups displayed poor sustained attention. Significant differences in memory were found. Children with CPS performed more significantly lower on measures of verbal and nonverbal memory than those with GTC (Wilk[apos]s lambda = .42, F = 11.4, p = .0001). Within the CPS group, material specific differences were found with a significant seizure type X memory interaction (Wilk[apos]s lambda = .21, F = 75.44, p = .0001). Children with left TLE displayed verbal memory problems whereas those with right TLE had problems with visual-spatial memory.
A series of analysis indicated that verbal memory and reading comprehension were highly correlated ([underline]r[/underline] =.44,[underline]p[/underline] =.006). Reading comprehension accounted for 40 percent of the variance in the acquisition of academic information. Memory and attention did not contribute beyond the effect of reading comprehension. Reading comprehension was also significant predictor for mathematics, accounting for 30 percent of variance. Attention also accounted for a significant portion of variance in mathematics., The results indicate that children with GTC and CPS seizures demonstrate poor sustained attention. In addition, those CPS demonstrated material specific memory impairments.
An inspection of the children[apos]s academic history revealed that 61 % of the children had received special education services. Attention problems were related to poor performance in mathematics. Verbal memory problems contributed to poor reading comprehension which, in turn, impacted their acquisition of academic information.,