Acquired epileptic aphasia in children (landau-kleffner syndrome): case report from a pediatric neurology clinic of a tertiary health facility in nigeria.
Article Details
Acquired epileptic aphasia is a rare childhood epileptic encephalopathy characterized by acquired aphasia, paroxysmal electroencephalographic pattern, behavioral and psychomotor disturbances. Seizures may not occur in all cases, and when present are infrequent and often remits spontaneously with age. It is often the aphasia that brings most patients to the physicians’ attention. Children who have not developed language before onset of the seizures/paroxysmal EEG pattern should not be considered for this syndrome. It is important that acquired epileptic aphasia be excluded in patients suspected to have autism, attention deficit disorder, aggressive, oppositional or psychotic behaviors. A multidisciplinary approach comprising of pediatric neurologists, psychologists, audiologists and speech therapists are necessary for early identification and management in order to restore reasonable language function in these children. This report describes 3 cases of this rare syndrome seen in an outpatient pediatric neurology clinic of a tertiary health facility.