Abstract
We report the case of a boy who developed Landau-Kleffner syndrome (LKS) at the age of six years. The disease manifested as language disturbances such as auditory agnosia and slurred speech, along with behavioral disturbances, including concentration difficulties and irritability. Seizures suggestive of epilepsy occurred twice, and the boy was diagnosed as having LKS based on continuous spike waves during sleep recorded on EEG. Although the abnormal EEG normalized during the course of the disease, and the language disturbances, EEG abnormalities and epilepsy improved, the patient continues to manifest mild cognitive impairment of speech recognition, poor vocabulary, and poor expressions.
Language training in children with LKS is not easy because of the accompanying auditory agnosia and behavioral disturbances. Although there are no problems in their daily lives, problems inevitably arise as they proceed to higher grades in school where lessons primarily involve abstract and multifaceted thinking.
Therefore, it is very important to understand the characteristics and language problems of each child and to provide them with learning education as well as mental health support.
