Reading comprehension difficulties in children with rolandic epilepsy

• Published in: Developmental medicine and child neurology 2018-03, Vol.60 (3), p.275-282
• Main Authors: Currie, Nicola K, Lew, Adina R, Palmer, Tom M, Basu, Helen, De Goede, Christian, Iyer, Anand, Cain, Kate
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0012-1622; 1469-8749
• DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.13628

Aim Difficulties in reading comprehension can arise from either word reading or listening comprehension difficulties, or a combination of the two. We sought to determine whether children with rolandic epilepsy had poor reading comprehension relative to typically developing comparison children, and whether such difficulties were associated with word reading and/or general language comprehension difficulties. Method In this cross‐sectional study, children with rolandic epilepsy (n=25; 16 males, 9 females; mean age 9y 1mo, SD 1y 7mo) and a comparison group (n=39; 25 males, 14 females; mean age 9y 1mo, SD 1y 3mo) completed assessments of reading comprehension, listening comprehension, word/non‐word reading, speech articulation, and Non‐verbal IQ. Results Reading comprehension and word reading were worse in children with rolandic epilepsy (F1,61=6.89, p=0.011, ηp2=0.10 and F1,61=6.84, p=0.011, ηp2=0.10 respectively), with listening comprehension being marginal (F1,61=3.81, p=0.055, ηp2=0.06). Word reading and listening comprehension made large and independent contributions to reading comprehension, explaining 70% of the variance. Interpretation Children with rolandic epilepsy may be at risk of reading comprehension difficulties. Thorough assessment of individual children is required to ascertain whether the difficulties lie with decoding text, or with general comprehension skills, or both. What this paper adds Children with rolandic epilepsy may be at risk of poor reading comprehension. This was related to poor word reading, poor listening comprehension, or both. Reading comprehension interventions should be tailored to the profile of difficulties. Resumen Dificultades de comprensión de la lectura en niños con epilepsia rolándica Objetivo Las dificultades en la comprensión de la lectura pueden surgir tanto de la interpretación de la palabra, como de la dificultad de la comprensión auditiva, o de una combinación de ambas. Intentamos determinar si los niños con epilepsia rolándica tenían una comprensión de la lectura menor en comparación con los niños con el desarrollo típico y si tales dificultades estaban asociadas con la lectura de palabras y / o dificultades generales en la comprensión del lenguaje. Método En este estudio transversal, los niños con epilepsia rolándica (n=25; 16 varones, 9 mujeres; edad media 9 año 1 meses, SD 1 año 7 meses) y un grupo de comparación (n=39; 25 varones, 14 mujeres; edad media 9 años 1meses, SD 1 años 3 mese) completaron las eva