Factors Associated with Academic Achievement in Children with Controlled Epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav 2001 Jun;2(3):217-223
Date
03/01/2003Pubmed ID
12609366DOI
10.1006/ebeh.2001.0166Scopus ID
2-s2.0-0039191487 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 74 CitationsAbstract
Children with epilepsy are at risk for academic underachievement. Multiple etiologies for this academic vulnerability have been suggested by past research including lower self-esteem, inattention, memory inefficiency, and lower socioeconomic status. The present study assessed 65 children (mean age = 10 years, 5 months) with well-controlled epilepsy on the four primary factors, as well as academic achievement and intelligence. A stepwise regression analysis was employed with academic achievement as the dependent variable and measures of self-esteem, attention, memory, and socioeconomic status as independent variables. When intelligence was controlled, attention was the only variable associated with achievement scores. Seizure variables including seizure type and duration of epilepsy were not associated with differences in academic performance. Findings support the importance of measuring attention skills in children with epilepsy and suggest that reduced auditory attention skills may be associated with decreased academic performance in these children.
