NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL SYNDROMES OF HIGHER PSYCHIC FUNCTIONS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH FOCAL FORMS OF EPILEPSY

Abstract

The paper deals with a study of the concomitance of neuropsychological syndromes characterized by impaired higher psychic functions (HPF) in focal epilepsy forms differing in the site of an epileptic focus in childhood and adolescence. The applied systems approach to analyzing HPF is important in predicting the mental development of children and in developing the adequate methods for psychological correction. The aim of the study was to identify complexes of neuropsychological syndromes characterizing the mental functions in focal epilepsy forms differing in sites. The concept metasyndrome is used to describe the types of concomitances of syndromes that manifest continually in each form of focal epilepsy. The general neuropsychological examination of HPF developed by A.R. Luria and his followers was performed in children and adolescents with focal epilepsy forms: frontal, temporal, occipital, and temporal-occipital. The examination of 82 children and adolescents aged 6-16 years involved an interview, studies of motor functions, gnosis, speech functions, memory, and intellect. The authors describe two major types of the metasyndrome as a regular concomitance of neuropsychological syndromes that occur irrespective of the form and site of focal epilepsies: specific and nonspecific metasyndromes. They single out the concrete types of specific and nonspecific metasyndromes differing in pattern (the composition of its included syndromes). Basic conditions affecting the pattern of the metasyndrome are considered.