Sign language in childhood epileptic aphasia (Landau-Kleffner syndrome).

Abstract

Acquired epileptic aphasia (AEA, or Landau-Kleffner syndrome) is a unique condition in which children can lose oral language (OL) comprehension and expression for a prolonged period. These children can benefit from visual forms of language, mainly sign language (SL), but the quality of SL has never been analyzed. The case is reported here of a boy with AEA who lost speech comprehension and expression from 3 years 6 months to 7 years and was educated in SL from the age of 6 years. His SL was evaluated at the age of 13 years and 6 months and compared with a control child with congenital sensorineural deafness. It was found that: (1) our patient achieved the same proficiency in SL as the control child with deafness; (2) SL learning did not compete with, but perhaps even hastened, the recovery of OL. Intact ability to learn a new linguistic code such as SL suggests that higher-order language areas were preserved and received input from a separate visual route, as shown by neuropsychological and functional imaging research in deaf and hearing signers.

• Authors: E R Perez, V Davidoff
• Journal: Developmental medicine and child neurology (Dev Med Child Neurol) Vol. 43 Issue 11 Pg. 739-44 (Nov 2001) ISSN: 0012-1622 [Print] England
• PMID: 11730147 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Comparative Study, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Topics

• Adolescent
• Hearing Loss, Sensorineural (congenital, diagnosis)
• Humans
• Landau-Kleffner Syndrome (diagnosis)
• Language Disorders (diagnosis, therapy)
• Language Tests
• Male
• Photic Stimulation
• Recovery of Function
• Sign Language
• Speech Discrimination Tests
• Verbal Behavior