Syndrome of Acquired Aphasia with Convulsive Disorder in Children

Abstract

Certain of the children who are evaluated and taught at the Central Institute for the Deaf are classified as aphasic because they present a specific deficit in the ability to use speech and language.1 For most of these children the deficit seems to be congenital, since they have failed to acquire the ability to use speech and language normally.2 Some of them, however, have acquired the ability to use language in an apparently normal fashion and have subsequently lost it. Six such children have been seen in the last two years. One of the six became aphasic and hemiplegic after a severe head injury; the remaining five developed aphasia in relation to a convulsive disorder. These five cases are reported here. Case 1 . A white male, third of four children, was born in April 1948. Pregnancy and birth history were unremarkable. He was a healthy infant, sat at about six months, and walked before he was a year old. He learned to talk normally at 15 to 18 months. Further behavioral development was also unremarkable. In 1952 when the boy was four, he had one nocturnal generalized seizure. When he was five (July 1953), he developed several furuncles over his face. A few days later he fell in the yard and was found in a semiconscious condition. He staggered into the house and vomited several times. Following treatment with penicillin, it became apparent to the family that the child was having difficulty understanding what was said to him, a defect interpreted as plain stubbornness. His speech also became garbled. He was hospitalized in August 1953. His electroencephalogram (figure 1A) showed a generalized spike dysrhythmia, most prominent in the temporal leads bilaterally. Neurologic examination was not remarkable except for the deficit in speech. He was considered to have …