ABSTRACT
Acquired epileptic aphasia (AEA) is a clinical-electroencephalographic (EEG) syndrome occurring exclusively in children. Diagnosis depends on the EEG because affected children do not always have recognised epileptic seizures. It is now accepted that the language loss is a direct consequence of the focal epileptic disorder, which in most cases is not caused by any underlying brain damage. AEA is increasingly considered to be an exceptionally severe form of a common inherited epileptic syndrome, 'benign partial epilepsy with rolandic spikes'. AEA appears to be unique in childhood neuropathology and psychopathology for several reasons. Brain plasticity is evident in the fact that young children, unlike adults, show a capacity for rapid and complete language recovery after a lesion in the language zones. AEA is different because the language disturbance is often prolonged, and recovery most often incomplete. Temple has reported identical twins, one with autistic regression and the other with SLI and epilepsy, as examples of Landau-Kleffner syndrome.
