Cognitive and electrophysiological characteristics of children with specific language impairment and subclinical epileptiform electroencephalogram

Abstract

The current study is a preliminary examination of cognitive profiles and cortical distribution of the spectral power of different electroencephalogram (EEG) rhythms in children with specific language impairment and subclinical epileptiform discharges. Although a number of empirical studies point to higher incidence of abnormal EEGs in children with specific language impairment, only a few studies were found examining electrophysiological characteristics, such as locus of discharges and connections with cognitive functioning in this population of children. The sample included 12 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and abnormal EEG who underwent testing of cognitive functioning using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). The control sample included 13 children with specific language impairment and regular EEG. Results point to lower scores on several subtests of the performance scale for children with abnormal EEG than for the group with regular EEG. Detailed EEG analysis of cortical distribution of the spectral power of different EEG rhythms partially confirms the results of neuropsychological assessment, pointing to abnormal function of frontal and temporal regions. Higher values of spectral power of the delta brain rhythm in frontal regions are associated with lower results on the WISC performance scale. Results are discussed in the context of subgroups of the population of children with SLI.

Visual narrative comprehension: Universal or not?

“…These interpretations raise questions about advocating for sequential images under the assumption of transparency. This has practical consequences in contexts like children's toy assembly (Martin & Smith-Jackson, 2008), instruction manuals (Spinillo & Dyson, 2001), or comics in education (Nalu, 2011;Wong, Miao, Cheng, & Yip, 2017). Similar concerns apply to visual narratives used as stimuli to test other aspects of cognition.…”

“…Rafael Núñez (p.c.) described fieldwork with Kensy Cooperrider with the Yupno of Papua New Guinea (e.g., Núñez, Cooperrider, Doan, & Wassmann, 2012). They attempted to use a TCAT with images of a man's beard getting longer, but respondents construed them as four different people (i.e., "brothers," because they looked similar).…”

Visual and linguistic narrative comprehension in autism spectrum disorders: Neural evidence for modality-independent impairments

“…For instance, impaired narrative comprehension may not be specific to the ASD condition but may be the result of more domain-general cognitive impairments. Impairments in visual narrative comprehension are also observed in other clinical populations (see Coderre, in preparation, for a review) such as individuals with specific language impairment SLI (Allen, Lincoln, & Kaufman, 1991;Nenadović, Stokić, Vuković, Đoković, & Subotić, 2014), right-hemisphere brain damage (Huber & Gleber, 1982), and schizophrenia (Beatty, Jocic, & Monson, 1993). We explored whether autism symptomology correlated with the ERP findings by running post-hoc correlations between the social + communication total on the ADOS and the N400/LPC effects (unrelated-related) in the three time windows of interest (300-500 ms, 500-800 ms, 800-1200 ms).…”

Neurocognitive and behavioral profiles of children with Landau-Kleffner syndrome

“…Diagnostically, the pattern of progression from normal language acquisition declining to aphasia associated with epileptiform activity is not singularly associated with LKS. Many children with specific language impairment also evidence subclinical epileptiform activity indicating an interaction between language and epilepsy (Billard, Fluss, & Pinton, 2009;Nenadovic, Stokic, Vukovic, Dokovic, & Subotic, 2014); thus, initially normal language development becomes a critical diagnostic consideration in these children. Changes in behavior or temperament may accompany the aphasia (Kaga, Inagaki, & Ohta, 2014).…”

“…In many cases, pharmacological intervention resulted in normalized electroencephalogram (Fandiño, Connolly, Usher, Palm, & Kozak, 2011). Surgical intervention with LKS also has been investigated to address CSWS/ESES activity with improvement in functioning (Mulligan, Spencer, & Spencer, 2001). When seizures are present, they may or may not persist after a few years (Duran, Guimarães, Medeiros, & Guerreiro, 2009), with some able to discontinue medication.…”