Purpose In preschool children, we investigated whether expressive and receptive language, phonological, articulatory, and/or verbal working memory proficiencies aid in predicting eventual recovery or persistence of stuttering. Methods Participants included 65 children, including 25 children who do not stutter (CWNS) and 40 who stutter (CWS) recruited at age 3;9–5;8. At initial testing, participants were administered the Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language, 3rd edition (TACL-3), Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test, 3rd edition (SPELT-3), Bankson-Bernthal Test of Phonology-Consonant Inventory subtest (BBTOP-CI), Nonword Repetition Test (NRT; Dollaghan & Campbell, 1998), and Test of Auditory Perceptual Skills-Revised (TAPS-R) auditory number memory and auditory word memory subtests. Stuttering behaviors of CWS were assessed in subsequent years, forming groups whose stuttering eventually persisted (CWS-Per; n=19) or recovered (CWS-Rec; n=21). Proficiency scores in morphosyntactic skills, consonant production, verbal working memory for known words, and phonological working memory and speech production for novel nonwords obtained at the initial testing were analyzed for each group. Results CWS-Per were less proficient than CWNS and CWS-Rec in measures of consonant production (BBTOP-CI) and repetition of novel phonological sequences (NRT). In contrast, receptive language, expressive language, and verbal working memory abilities did not distinguish CWS-Rec from CWS-Per. Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that preschool BBTOP-CI scores and overall NRT proficiency significantly predicted future recovery status. Conclusion Results suggest that phonological and speech articulation abilities in the preschool years should be considered with other predictive factors as part of a comprehensive risk assessment for the development of chronic stuttering.

SUMMARY Despite a positive prognosis for seizure remission, children with Benign Epilepsy with Centrotemporal Spikes (BECTS) have been reported to exhibit subtle neuropsychological difficulties. We examined the relationship between patterns of centrotemporal spikes (typical EEG finding in BECTS) and neuropsychological and motor outcomes in children with new-onset BECTS. Thirty-four patients with new-onset BECTS (not taking antiepileptic medication) and 48 typically-developing children participated in the study. In BECTS patients, centrotemporal spikes (CTS) were evaluated in the first hour awake and first two hours of sleep in a 24-hour EEG recording and left or right-sided origin was noted. General intellectual function, language, visuospatial skill, processing speed and fine motor skill were assessed in all participants. We found no significant difference between BECTS patients and controls on measures of general intellectual function, visuospatial or language testing. There were significant differences in Processing Speed Index and non-dominant hand fine motor scores between groups. Significant negative relationships were observed between rates of left-sided CTS and right hand fine motor scores. This suggests that psychomotor and fine motor speed are affected in BECTS, but the extent of affected domains may be more limited than previously suggested, especially in untreated patients early in the course of their epilepsy.

A region of cortex where right CTS may originate was thinner in BECTS compared to children without BECTS. Typically developing children with faster processing speed had thicker cortices in regions supporting visuomotor integration, motor, and executive function, but this relationship was not observed in BECTS. These results suggest that BECTS is associated with atypical cortical morphology that may underlie poorer neuropsychological performance.

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Summary Objective To describe the natural history of EEG changes in patients with Benign Epilepsy with Centrotemporal Spikes (BECTS) over 1 year. Methods Centrotemporal spikes (CTS) were visually evaluated based on 24-hour ambulatory EEGs to determine the total, left, right, and bilateral CTS while awake and asleep. These CTS rates were then used to compare the entire night of sleep to the first 2 hours of sleep, the repeatability of spike frequency over two recordings (done within days to weeks), and longitudinal changes in CTS rate over 6 and 12 months. Results 19 children with newly diagnosed and untreated BECTS were included in this analysis. An excellent correlation was found between the CTS rate during the entire duration of sleep and the first 2 hours of sleep (intraclass correlation (ICC) = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.67–0.95). An excellent correlation was also found between two recordings completed an average of 23 days apart while asleep (ICC = 0.92, 95% CI = 0.80–0.97) and lower, but still good correlation while awake (ICC = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.39–0.87). The average change in CTS rate between recordings at baseline and 6 months was a decrease of 64.7% (range −100% to +51.5%, p=0.01) and the average change in CTS rate between recordings at baseline and 12 months was a decrease of 57.7% (range −100% to +29.1%, p=0.01). Additionally, within 6 months, most children had decreased CTS rates with 30% of children being spike free. This absence of spikes did not continue in all children since the majority (60%) had some CTS at 1 year following diagnosis. Significance CTS rates during sleep are stable when compared over days to weeks, however, when comparing spike rates over months there is a larger degree of variability.