COMMUNICATION DEFICITS IN CHILDREN UNDERGOING TEMPORAL LOBECTOMY

Objective: To examine formal thought disorder and discourse (cohesive) devices that make speech coherent prospectively in seven children, aged 5.7 to 16.7 years, before and after temporal lobectomy for intractable complex partial seizures. Method: The presurgical and postsurgical scores of these children were compared with cut points determined from sensitivity and specificity analyses of formal thought disorder and discourse measures in 22 children with complex partial seizure disorder and 45 normal children. Results: Before surgery, the mean illogical thinking and discourse scores of the surgical candidates were in the pathological range. After a mean postoperative follow-up period of 15.1 months, their illogical thinking (but not their discourse scores) decreased significantly to the normal range. Conclusions: These preliminary findings are discussed in terms of the possible role of postsurgical changes in seizure control, behavior, antiepileptic drugs, cognition, and prefrontal function.