ABSTRACT
There do not appear to be any studies of careful statistical detail which have investigated the actual kinds and categories of behaviour in epileptic children. The studies which have attempted a categorization of behaviour seem to have relied on observational methods. Where a classification of behaviour is used for further analysis, the methods are not usually described. Nuffield’s study (1961) was more systematic than most. He assigned a score on a 3-point scale to traits which previous work had characterized as aggressive or neurotic. However, whether the final categorization of children by this method had any relation to reality, the study did not show. The classification of cases in this way must be checked by a more careful numerical technique, such as a factor analysis, before reliable generalizations of the categories of behaviour that epileptic children display can be made. Such an exercise has not been reported in the literature.The problems to be solved in a study of the behaviour of epileptic children seem to be:1 Can a detailed numerical study of behaviour in epileptic children show that the aggressive-anxious typology of behaviour seen in nonepileptic children applies to epileptic children?2 How does hyperactivity relate to the other behavioural traits in epileptic children?3 Is there any special reaction of epileptic children with low intelligence? It should be mentioned in this context that a study by Rutter (1964) of maladjusted children, including some epileptics, could find no relationship between type of disorder and intellectual level. There have, however, been a number of studies of epileptic children (reviewed above, pp. 45-52) which have suggested a link between low intelligence and aggression, or other disturbed behaviour.
