Abstract
A 2-year-old boy presented with an early form of benign partial epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes (BCERS) and a severe speech delay. Family video analysis revealed an early regression of babbling and stagnation since the age of 12 months. Complete recovery occurred with anti-epileptic treatment. The deficit corresponded to a transient speech apraxia attributed to an epileptic disconnection of networks coordinating speech articulation. This observation is, to the best of our knowledge, the first demonstration that delayed emergence of language can be due to an epileptic dysfunction interfering with prelinguistic skills and therefore mimicking a developmental delay.
Key words
Benign partial epilepsy - language - speech delay - regression
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Eliane Roulet Perez
Department of Pediatrics · Neuropediatric Unit
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois
1011 Lausanne
Switzerland
Email: Eliane.Roulet-Perez@chuv.hospvd.ch
