Cognitive and behavioural characteristics of children with idiopathic epilepsy in a low-income area of Ankara, Turkey.
Fifteen school-age children with idiopathic epilepsy but with no other neurological symptoms were compared with non-epileptic children, matched for age, on four cognitive tests selected to measure specific cognitive skills at two levels of functioning, and a behaviour rating scale. All children were from a low-income district of Ankara, Turkey. Epileptic children did as well as controls on the recognition of a geometric designs test but were significantly inferior at drawing these designs, suggesting some deficit at a cognitive level involving coordination of perception and motor activity. In language functioning, they were significantly poorer on the receptive test but not on the expressive test. They had significantly more behavioural problems than either the control group or their own siblings, those related to fears and anxiety being most prominent. However, in comparison with their siblings, they also had significantly more problems related to conduct- disobedience and inattention. These findings provide further evidence for the importance of some form of counselling for school-age epileptic children and their families.